Snippet #925005

"Egh, my arm is acting up again." Alcaeus stretched his right arm as if he just had a sore shoulder, although instead of hearing the cracking of bones only a rattle of screws and other metal could be heard. He was sitting on the streets of Kethasdia, the cobblestones felt warm due to the sun that never seemed to go down and even though Alcaeus often complained about the hot weather, he considered the sun as one of the few gifts the country had to offer. He had just delivered some heavy boxes from the docks to the palace and felt the satisfying weight of hard earned coin in his pocket. The crates had to be delivered to the palace and they were known for their royal pay checks. "What would you say to me when you could see me now?" He muttered to himself while thinking about a distant past. With a grunt Alcaeus climbed up and sighed, he didn't want to think about that now, he had enough coins to drink himself into a stupor and forget about the world for a moment.

It was at that time he heard a loud bang coming from the palace followed by screams. He quickly turned his head to where the noise was coming from only to see flames coming from the place where he had just been. He remembered the servants that helped him out, he thought the servants at the palace were stuck up people who didn't know a thing about the real world, although they didn't deserve to get burned alive. But what was he going to do about it? It wasn't his responsibility, it wasn't his problem. He was about to turn his back to it all, when he suddenly saw a little girl limping down the street. She looked about as old as his daughter the last time he saw herr, although she was sickly pale and had hair even whiter than his own. He quickly noticed the piece of wood sticking out of her leg and the stream of blood coming out of it. It had been a long time since Alcaeus had felt sorry for another human being. He couldn't resist the urge to help out this injured puppy.

"Let me take a look at that wound." The girl startled since she didn't see him approaching, her eyes were blurred from the tears still streaming down her face. Not waiting for a reply Alcaeus quickly squatted down and examined the wound with great care. He wasn't an expert at this by far but he picked up a few things while he was still a mercenary, it seemed to him like none of the major arteries were hit although if she didn't see a doctor the wound could become infected. "Egh... You need to see someone who knows a damn about this. There ain't much I can do." The girl only seemed to stare at him with bewildered eyes, Alcaeus started to doubt if she had any idea about what was going on. "Let me take you back to the palace, I'm sure they have grea-..." Before he could finish his sentence he was interrupted by a loud "NO!" Her high pitched scream seemed to echo through the streets, and a few passer bys turned their head to the sudden interruption. Alcaeus was not in the mood for a big scene, and didn't feel like arguing with the kid. "Okay... Okay... Just lemme carry you then, maybe we can find you someone who isn't from the palace..." He reached out his metal hand to the child and tried to force a smile on his face.