378 He Will Keep His Word
“Excuse me!” Ashleigh said pushing past the two of the nurses in the triage area.
There was an instant rush of relief that fell over her as she laid her eyes on Saul sitting on one of the gurneys. He was bloodied and his arm was immobilized, but otherwise, he seemed to be in good health.
“Saul!” she called out with joy and rushed forward into the room.
Penelope followed after her, she smiled when she saw him. But just before she entered the room, a shout from one of the doctors called her attention.
“We need to get him to the operating room right now!”
Penelope looked back at the doctor standing over another gurney. She gasped as she recognized the man lying unconscious on the bed. It was Mateas.
She looked back at Ashleigh who was already talking to Saul, she licked her lips and then quickly followed the doctors heading toward the operating room.
“I’m so glad to see you!” Ashleigh smiled, reaching out and touching his shoulder gently. “When Penelope got back, we weren’t sure what had happened to the rest of you.”
“Penelope made it back?” Saul asked with an excitement in his voice. “That is good to hear.”
“She did, she got back a few hours ago,” Ashleigh nodded. “She was surprised the rest of you hadn’t arrived before her.”
Saul nodded.
“It took a long time,” he said. “We needed to stop and rest. It was unavoidable.”
Ashleigh nodded, and then licked her lips.
She had seen Penelope chase after the other gurney, and though she had only met him a few times, Ashleigh recognized Mateas as the man that had been severely injured and in need of surgery.
Before she had made her way into this room, her eyes had scanned the halls and triage, finding no one else but Saul and Mateas.
“What happened, Saul?” she asked quietly. “Where is my father?”
Saul looked away; he took a deep breath.
“Wyatt refused the order,” he began. “He could not accept that the standard protocol was the best option for the team. He refused to leave Penelope and Mateas behind.”
Ashleigh sat down on the chair beside the gurney.
“And I refused to leave him.”
Saul leaned back against the wall before he continued.
“We returned to the site of the attack just in time to see Penelope make her escape. The sky was full of arrows launched en masse from high up in the hills. Mateas was injured, but he managed to get himself behind the tree. It was barely large enough to provide him cover, but it was enough.”
Saul paused and swallowed.
“Wyatt made his way to him, it was clear the boy was in pain, and we weren’t sure of how serious his injuries were. But Wyatt was able to reach him, he carried him on his shoulder and together we got out of there.
“We traveled for several miles without stopping, just trying to put distance between us and the men that had attacked. But the injuries to Mateas’s back were severe and it made travel difficult. We had to stop and treat him in order to stave off the potential infection. Cleaning the wound as best we could while still trying to keep ourselves hidden from our attackers.”
“How long did they follow you?” Ashleigh asked.
She was surprised to hear that they would have been chased for miles. It hardly made sense. They were a small scouting party that no one should have even known were out on a mission. An ambush made sense, there had been many of those over the past week or so, but a full hunt? Why? For what reason?
Saul swallowed and licked his lips. He cleared his throat before answering.
“As day became night, and night became day, we could still hear them. Tracking us, following our scents,” Saul said with a hint of anger seeping into his words. “They were never going to stop following us. And with Mateas’s injuries, and even after building a makeshift stretcher to carry Devon, we were not going to make it home before they caught up to us.”
Ashleigh felt a weight in her chest, a cold hard weight.
“We argued about it,” he said. “I told him that we needed to stay together, that we were stronger that way. But he insisted that the only chance Mateas had at survival and that Devon would be able to return home was if we split up.”
Ashleigh let out a sob she hadn’t realized was building. Saul clenched his jaw, taking in a slow breath through his nose.
“I tried to stop him,” he sighed. “I begged him.”
Ashleigh closed her eyes as she listened to Saul’s words.
“Wyatt told me to get them home,” he said. “He ran off on his own into the trees before I could stop him. And he knew that with Mateas and Devon in my charge, I couldn’t chase after him.”
Saul hung his head, and Ashleigh let out another sob.
“We heard the sounds of battle in the distance, not far off,” he continued. “And though it killed me to do so, I continued on the road back to Winter.”
Ashleigh felt a soft tear roll down her cheek. She clenched her jaw and pushed down against the bile that was rising into her throat.
“He swore he would come home,” Saul said softly. “One way or another, I have to believe he will keep his word.”
Ashleigh closed her eyes and nodded.
“Ashleigh!” someone called out from outside the room.
She quickly turned and rose from her chair, recognizing Axel’s voice.
“Axel?” she called back. Hurrying out to meet him.
He rushed to her as soon as he saw her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Is it mom? Is she alright?”
“She’s still resting,” he said. “But Caleb called, we need to get to the southern border right away.”
“What happened?”
“I’m not sure,” Axel said, already pulling her with him toward the doors. “He just said that we need to go, now.”