Garvin continued to look at his father with expectation and hope, but he remained silent. Shaking his head, Larsen spoke.
– You deceived me, and you will be punished for it. And as for the drugs… Don't forget, he has a divine blessing, and with high probability – a skill capable of resisting it. That's all.
– No, you're wrong.
– No, you are the one who is wrong. Listen, Garvin, – Larsen's tone rose, turning into a shout. – He couldn't even dodge your arrows, didn't realize that he was being followed the whole time. And the most important thing, do you know what it is, Garvin? – his father's voice grew quieter. – He ran away. If he were strong, why would he run? He could have waited for us or set an ambush. Do you see these tracks? Perhaps at the end of our path, he will be waiting and will attack from hiding. And that means he is not confident in himself. To hesitate is to die. And I will not hesitate. Do not forget what I taught you all your childhood, Garvin. And this applies to you as well, – Larsen turned to Torvin and Elric.
– We remember, father.
– Yes, we have never forgotten, – Torvin confirmed, supporting his brother.
Garvin lowered his hands, once again failing to convince his father. – Father… – Garvin understood all his arguments, but he did not want to accept them. He was simply afraid of the unknown, of what that boy was hiding. But however hard he tried, he would not be able to convince his father now; there was no choice left, he had to accept it. – Alright, father. Forgive me for my foolishness and for deceiving you... It won't happen again.
– We'll talk when we finish the job. We need to catch him. He couldn't have gone far. Let's go. We must find him before night falls, – Larsen paused for a moment and continued: – Let us hope that he can give himself first aid, so that he doesn't die from blood loss. That is the only thing to hope for now.
Walking along the boy's blood drops, everyone was silent; no one started a conversation. But the further they advanced, the less blood there was, until it disappeared entirely.
– What do we do, father? The blood trail ends. Perhaps he gave himself first aid here, – Elric fell silent, studying the ground, and continued: – Where do you think he's heading now?
– He couldn't have gone far. Or he has been letting us follow him all this time, to set an ambush. – At his words, everyone tensed, and all were already ready for whatever was to happen, but nothing happened.
---
He heard screams, his head was spinning, and his eyes were blurred. He felt nothing except pain in his arm and leg. It was hard for him to move his body.
«Why, why, why am I so unlucky?» – Kopii thought, falling like a stone. A moment later, he hit the water, feeling the pain of the impact. But this pain gave him the ability to think clearly.
Kopii slowly sank to the bottom. He did not want to die, so he tried with all his might to swim out, but his body would not obey.
«I don't want to die!»
Not even a week had passed, and he was once again on the brink of life and death. Which he did not like at all. Despair began to fill him again from the hopelessness of the situation, but even so, he continued.
«I must! I must! I must! I must! Move! Move!» – he screamed in his mind, repeating the same thing without stopping. Control over his body gradually returned, and Kopii felt hope.
He felt it again, the thirst, but right now it was not so important to him; he wanted to swim out.
He began to feel his body better, and the fatigue and pain all vanished as if they had never been there. And at last, he was able to gather all his strength and swim upward. Every second seemed an eternity; there was almost no air left in his lungs, but he kept paddling, reaching his hand toward the light breaking through the thickness of the water. Finally, he surfaced, greedily gulping air. Kopii could barely see, but he managed to make out the outlines of trees and swam towards them.
«Once again, this feeling saved my life.»
He thought, swimming closer and closer to the shore. At last, he managed to get out. Kopii immediately collapsed onto the cold ground, lacking the strength to stand any longer.
He began to feel fatigue and pain again; right now he just wanted to close his eyes and rest. But he remembered that this would equal death.
With trembling hands, he took off his backpack and opened it, intending to take out five healing potions. But Kopii's hope collapsed – all the potions had shattered upon impact.
– It can't be! – At least one should have survived. The longer he looked at the broken vials, the stronger he felt despair. He threw the shards out of his backpack into the lake. But then it dawned on Kopii: he had not counted all four caps. Where was the fifth? He remembered that, so as not to dig through his backpack every time he was wounded, he always kept one potion in quick access.
Kopii reached for his hip pocket. Feeling it, he found a whole vial. Kopii's joy knew no bounds.
– There you are, my little one. – He said, taking it with trembling hands as carefully as possible. As if it were the most precious thing he had. And drank it in one gulp.
He immediately felt relief. His vision focused again, and his body became more obedient. Kopii tried to stand. And he succeeded, which could not but gladden him. Kopii took his backpack and headed wherever his eyes led. His wet clothes only slowed him down, but he could do nothing about it; he did not want to waste time on it.
– Quickly… need… to go… Ah… Ha… Why do they need me? Who could this even be? – The further Kopii walked, the more he wanted to rest. – I need to rest… Ah, ha… – The pain in his leg and arm was the only thing keeping him conscious. Kopii decided to rest and tend to his wounds. He bit down on his shirt.
– I can do it, yes, I can. I just need to focus. – Gripping the arrow with a trembling hand, he yanked it out of his body with a sharp motion.
– Aaah, how it hurts! I'll kill them!
He wasted no time and immediately took out the bandage he had prepared and began bandaging his arm. – One down… Ah, ha… – breathing heavily, he whispered. He bit his shirt again and with trembling hands took hold of the arrow in his leg.
«Come on, you managed the first time. You can do it, you pathetic coward!» – With a sharp motion, he yanked the arrow out of his leg.
– Bastards, why again. May you choke in hell. – With tears, he began bandaging his leg. He threw the arrows away. Having rested a little, he continued on his way. He did not know where he was going; the main thing was to get away from those who had shot him.
Speeding up again, he cast these thoughts aside. Kopii did not want to believe it; better to be prepared for the worst. How had this even happened? How had he not noticed the surveillance?
All his travels had passed calmly, and he had relaxed. Kopii bit his lower lip in frustration. He began to hate his luck – why couldn't everything just be fine?
– Why? – he looked at the sky, expecting an answer, but no answer came, as expected.
He stumbled over tree roots, caught on bushes, but kept moving forward. He knew he couldn't stop. The pursuers might be close. The sun was sinking towards the horizon, and the forest was filling with shadows. Kopii felt fatigue pressing down with every minute, but he drove it away. Pain was the only thing keeping him conscious.
Finding a small clearing, Kopii decided to rest. He leaned against a tree, trying to catch his breath.
– Where am I even going? – Kopii did not want to take out the map; it wouldn't help yet. First, he needed to get rid of the pursuers. He had walked all day; he couldn't go on like this. Kopii simply waited for night, to hide, if, of course, the pursuers hadn't given up.
– After all, a whole day has passed. They might have gotten bored; I'm not a sack of gold, – Kopii chuckled at his own thoughts. Trying to amuse himself somehow. But he wasn't doing a very good job of it.
He was almost ordinary. The only thing he could boast about was his beauty.
– It seems no one holds a grudge against me. – But he immediately remembered the faces of Gedo and Canoe. It dawned on Kopii: maybe this was all their doing? They had learned that he had survived and decided to finish what they had started. The more Kopii thought about it, the more he convinced himself that they had the best chance of doing this.
«If that's true, then why didn't they attack earlier? For example, when I was sleeping. Or did they want me to suffer longer? Maybe my reasoning is wrong. Maybe these are just bandits who decided to shoot for fun. Or someone hired them…» – But Kopii immediately cast that thought aside.
But time passed, and the more he pondered, the more tangled he became.