Janine sighed when Raban got up on his feet. He told her that he’d tell the nurses to feed her, and that she should focus on getting better. While he did so, he took her hand into his, making her shift in her spot oh ever so lightly. SHe didn’t expect that to happen, but after the initial shock, she smiled warmly. “Okay, fine. Just remember that we have a lot to talk about though,” Janine called out to him as he walked out of the room. Tina nodded back at Raban as he took his leave.
“You have such a wonderful friend Janine,” the mother commented.
Janine sighed softly. “Yeah…. I know. It’s… Hard at times to pick out how to feel about this,” Janine said with slight hesitation. But her mother shook her head as she took her daughter’s hand.
“You have been blessed with the fortune of having a friend you can rely on. Something that you had been searching and hoping for, whether you realized it or not. Just remember to be yourself, and acknowledge those feelings. Don’t deny them. He has said that he’d trust you with his life. Do you trust him?” Janine’s mother said with serious eyes. Janine paused and looked down at her hands, relaying all that had happened between herself and Raban since the day they met. After all they’ve been through? She’d told him things that, up until then, only herself and her mother knew about. And on top of that, they were discovering things about herself, together. She nodded her head with conviction.
“Yes, I do. After everything we’ve been through together, I’d be silly to say that I didn’t trust him.”
“Good. Then remember that while you rest. He cares for you, Janine. And everyone needs a friend in their life.” the mother said as she kissed Janine on the forehead. “I must take my leave as well. I don’t feel like arguing with the nurses on how to feed you,” her mother said with a scoff and a laugh. Janine smiled and groaned lightly, not wanting her to leave. But alas, she did. The mother finally took one last kiss before taking her leave, resulting in the young woman being alone once more. Soon enough though, she was greeted by nurses who fussed over the fact that she was awake, who looked after her throughout the next couple of hours.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next multiple days were more or less boring for Janine. She was easily able to sleep when she was given enough time alone - especially when the sun rays hit her bed just right. Any amount of sunlight could put her in a drowsy haze, but only if she was stationary for long enough. Her wounds healed faster when she slept, but still showed scars, so while the nurses were happy that Janine was healing, they were questioning her overall progress. And while it wasn’t super fast, Janine mentioned that she read somewhere that wounds healed faster when the area was kept warm. She said that the sun had been on her for quite some time, so perhaps her body decided to bloom like a pretty flower. Her little comment seemed to convince them, despite her attempt to be compared with flowers. She sighed inwardly, relieved that she wasn’t raising that much suspicion, though she preferred to not raise any type of suspicion. If anything, they just seemed skeptical. The scarring seemed to help her out, even though that too would soon disappear from her body.
It was about five days after Janine’s awakening that something unnerving would happen. She was sleeping soundly in her bed, the sun’s rays shining on her bed like an extra warm blanket. But out of the blue, she would be woken up by the warning sounds that triggered inside her head. She was slowly roused from her sleep, groaning softly as the sounds echoed in her mind. What…? What was happening? In her drowsy daze she sensed somebody getting closer to her room. Her entire being didn’t like what was going on, and her senses swept away any sense of drowsiness she might've had. A male’s voice began to interact with the nurses, which made her think it was Raban. She grinned, happy to have a second visit from her new friend.
… But a few seconds later, a foot came through the door, and it wasn’t as thick as Raban’s legs were. Her smile immediately shortened into lips pursed in concern. Who was…?
Janine sniffed the air just as the man turned around. Just as the scent clicked in her head did he speak up.
“Why, hello young Knight. Janine is it?” the man slowly questioned.
Greaves.
Everything in Janine’s body just froze with wariness. What was he doing here? She studied him as he strode over to her, just as he was scrutinizing her body as she laid in the bed. She was so nervous, she almost forgot to answer the man’s question. Her brain hurried to rethink the question and come with the answer.
“Yes… That’s my name... Sir. What are you doing here?” she asked slowly.
The man gave a chilling chuckle that made her shudder a little. “Why child, you’re injured. I do tend to visit Knights that are injured. As a courtesy, of course. You were the one who drove away the larger dragon, were you not?” the man asked as he walked up to the bed beside her. He sat down in it as he waited for her answer.
Not wishing to suggest anything, Janine just nodded her head. The man folded his fingers over one another, as if wondering what to ask her next. “Fascinating. I’ve rarely heard of instances where a single Knight was able to drive away vicious dragons in order to save the city. Most of them fight the beasts from afar, or…. Die before being able to finish the job. You, a Knight - and a young one a that - on top of the fact that you’re a woman….. Why, that’s a feat for the ages…. You should be quite proud of yourself,” the man congratulated. While it did seem complementary, Janine didn’t trust him in the least.
“Oh ho. Where are my manners? My name is Jedidiah Greaves. We never properly met, but -”
“I know who you are. You appeared the same day the dragons came along. Is this why you’re here? To congratulate me?” Janine asked with slightly narrowed eyes. The man paused when he was interrupted and lifted a brow, but quickly gave another chuckle and shook his head.
“No. Tell me, from what I’ve been told, you have received some serious wounds. I’m surprised that you’re still alive. Most would succumb to the wounds on the spot…. How did you get here if you were receiving such wounds?” the man said with a hand that tapped on his leg a little. Janine scoffed softly. He was searching for something, she could tell. Like he was trying to look for keywords that would tell him the answer that he wanted to hear, but she wouldn’t give it to him.
“I had help getting here. Of course, with wounds such as mine, one would need help to even get out of the building, let alone all the way here.” Janine said matter-of-factly.
“Oh yes. And who helped you, child?” Greaves asked as he hid half of his face behind his interconnected fingers.
Janine was tempted to growl or hiss at him, but she held her tongue. She couldn’t give in to this man’s overwhelming unnerving aura. “If you know this much about my fight, surely you know about who helped me. Unless you just want confirmation,” Janine said with a huff. The man tilted his head and raised a brow.
“Hehe…. You’re smarter than you look. Yes I do know who helped you. But I just wanted to hear you say it,” the man said in a way that couldn’t have sounded any creepier if she had read it in a book.
“Now that we have gotten the pleasantries out of the way, for the real questions. I’ve been… surveying the areas that the dragons had damaged. Namely, the Order Hall. While I was doing so, I saw some….. Things that weren’t normal.”
Janine leaned her head to the side a little, wondering what the man was going to ask now. What was this man doing?
“I saw… footprints. Not complete prints unfortunately, but enough for me to be….. Curious. Do you know what I’m talking about?” Greaves slowly asked with purpose.
Janine blinked at what the man was suggesting, and was genuinely baffled. She didn’t know what he was talking about. But she immediately noticed when the man decided to draw himself closer to Janine, stopping when he was basically standing next to the crack stool Raban had sat on the day he and his mother visited her.
“Bloody footprints. None human by the way. And since the only Knight that was injured that day was you, I must ask you…. Do you know whose footprints they could be? Or what made them?” The man asked with a more hushed voice as he drew his face in a little closer. Janine’s entire body tensed to the point where her injury began speaking to her in the form of a slightly sharpened pain. She winced a little, but she tried not to show any fear, or nervousness.
“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never saw anything that would suggest anything else but human footprints. And maybe dragon prints.” Janine said with certainty. Whether the man was trying to draw a reaction out of her or what, she couldn’t tell right away. All she knew was that he was slowly making her senses go crazy at the prospect of danger being in front of her. She was slowly losing focus. The pain in her side wasn’t helping either.
Greaves harrumphed as he slowly walked around her bed. He didn’t say anything as he moved methodically to the other side of the bed. As he walked, Janine’s eyes widened a little, her mind flashing memories of when she was in her other form. She was bleeding out, and she had begun to panic - she was pacing in front of Raban…. She must’ve been making pawprints all across the floor. How much of those did he see? Did anybody else in the Order see them? What did this mean for her? How could she have missed that?! She had begun staring at the far wall, panic slowly beginning to creep into her body. Her eyes shifted a little, and her ears lowered a bit.
“Nothing? Very well. I want to give you something. Here, catch,” Greaves said as he suddenly tossed a vial with a purplish-silver substance inside it. Janine gasped and caught the vial. When she held it in her face, she looked at it with a small bit of curiosity. But she looked at Greaves with a small sneer.
“A potion to make me prettier? No thanks,” Janine said with a huff. The man gave another chilling chuckle and shook his head.
“No no no. It’s a vial of my wolfsbane and silver mixture. I promised to give one to each of you Knights before those dreadful dragons interrupted my demonstration. Well? What do you think about it?” Greaves asked.
Janine held it in her hands before scoffing and putting it on the bed, next to her leg. “It doesn't do me anything. It’s a pretty color, but I don’t think I’ll be needing it,” Janine said with a scoff. Greaves raised an eyebrow, as if wondering what her reasoning was for saying such a statement.
“I don’t think a werewolf will come after me while I’m in here. And besides, with me being filled with Infirmary food, it might think twice before eating me. What self-respecting werewolf would want someone filled with bread and plain potatoes? If anyone should have it, it should be you,” Janine said as she turned her head sharply to the skinnier man, “Anyone who wants to be bold enough to straight up go after a werewolf is insane. I personally think the werewolf lives in the forest. But if they did live here in Amastad, I wouldn’t blame whoever it was to throw you over a bridge.” Janine snorted.
The older man blinked at Janine as if contemplating what to do with her. She was still very much nervous, but she refused to falter her gaze.
“My my… Such feisty spirits in the Order this time around.” Greaves slowly spoke. Then, out of nowhere, the man snatched a cross from a hidden pocket and jabbed it into her wounded side. Her eyes bulged and she opened her mouth to scream, but her mouth was quickly covered by Greaves himself. He brought his lips just outside her ear, his voice low and threatening as he spoke in her ear.
“I wonder how many more fiery flames of spirit will be snuffed out before the Order comes to their senses. Danger’s afoot, and young’uns want to make names for yourselves. That kind of arrogance will put you under the ground faster than you can say ‘wolfsbane’. I don’t think you are so arrogant. But you…. You know something. Something about that werewolf…. Or…. Maybe you
are the werewolf. Hmm?”
Janine’s ragged pants barely made it past her barricaded mouth, but the tears in her eyes were free to drip down her eyes. How dare he?! Why was he doing this here? Was he insane?! She wanted to bite this man so much, but her side protested against even breathing, let alone actually attacking the man.
“I will keep these clues under wraps for now. I unfortunately don’t have enough to convict anyone. For now. But you better keep your guard up. Don’t want anyone else thinking you’re… Something that you’re not supposed to be,” the man hissed as he jabbed the cross further into her side, making Janine shift and squirm in her bed while trying to let out a scream in pain. She wanted somebody to help her so much. She felt her stomach ache and twist with the pain as nausea snuck itself into the fray and her head spin with dizziness - she felt herself getting sick.
Greaves kept himself on Janine for a moment longer, staring at Janine while Janine tried to keep herself composed. Her inner demon was roaring and clawing for active retaliation. Her hands were trying to pry Greaves' from her mouth, but her strength was still a bit dampened with all this healing she had to do.
The man finally lifted himself away from Janine, putting his cross away while the young woman desperately struggled to breathe correctly, hiccuping every now and again.
"Asshole," Janine snarled.
"Hmmm. Still at it. Might have to do something about that….. but for now, you just worry about resting yourself," Greaves said with a mocking look of concern. He walked around the foot of her bed to leave right when a nurse came into the room.
"Oh nurse, thank goodness you're here. Her wounds were beginning to hurt her again."
The nurses went over to her while the man made his leave. Janine clutched her hands into fists as pain and anger, and a little bit of hatred, surged through her body. This man…. Was crazy dangerous. He was too much of a threat to
anyone that he suspected to be anything other than human.
The nurses went over to Janine as her breathing struggled to even itself out, and glared a thousand daggers at the smug man as he waved a creepy hand with his salutations.
"Until we meet again, Knight." He said before he left her sight.