M:   The night was surprisingly peaceful; no night terrors, no waking up screaming, not even a peep or a twitch came from the three sleeping Mandorians, though on the other hand when Mandoria woke up in the morning Rowen and Johann were more or less using him as a bed, as well as each other and forming a sleep pile.

Mandoria chuckled and gently ran his hand through Johann's hair, he looked so peaceful, it was a welcomed sight after everything that had happened to them. After several minutes of careful shifting, the country managed to climb out from the two without waking them, then draped the blanket they had over them. Mandoria pat Edel's nose as he walked away, stepping out of the cave into the clearing and breathing in the clear and crisp morning air.

The sun was warm on his skin and wings, making him feel content and actually happy, and as he spread his wings out to catch the golden rays with his feathers, he forgot all the horrors for a moment. For a brief time, all his fears and sorrows melted away and he felt like his old self again, the proud and noble king he thought was long dead had come back for a moment, however, that quick point in time made him yearn for a morning flight.

Forgetting the clipped and pitiful state of his wings, Mandoria gave one powerful beat and tried to take off, somehow managing to rise several meters before his wings couldn't catch the air and he started falling.  By the time his head came back from the clouds it was too late, he crashed into the treeline and got scraped up pretty bad before hitting the ground flat on his stomach, lying in pain and sadness as the one thing he was born to do was ripped away from him.

N:   The soldier smiled when he saw Mandoria rise into the air, but he began to panic when he fell out of view, so he quickly turned around and shook Wald awake. The insurgent woke up disoriented and was for a moment confused, but when he was told what happened, he woke Saxon up and the pair ran over to the treeline.

"Mandoria," the insurgent said when they found him, kneeling beside the country, "are you ok?"

"I don't understand why people ask that question," Saxon mumbled, still half asleep, "you can see he isn't."

"You know what I mean," the other retorted, and the entity came me knelt next to the country, "Mandoria, can you stand? Let's take you back to the cave."

M:   Mandoria couldn't speak for a second, the wind was knocked out of him so he was taking a moment to catch his breath, and when he was breathing normally a quiet sob escaped his lips.

"I can't fly, I can't fly anymore," he cried, "why have I been forsaken this way, what did I do to deserve this hell?"

Mandoria was understandably distraught, he was so happy and at peace just seconds before and it literally came crashing down, his emotions were played like a fiddle and only caused him more heartbreak.

 "Why anything anymore, what's the point of a winged country who can't fly," he sobbed again, "Prussia was right, I'm useless now, I don't even have a purpose to live for anymore, he ... was ... right."

N:   Saxon and Wald looked at each other, neither of them were winged so they didn't know how Mandoria felt. They waited until the winged country had let it all out before they spoke.

"Firstly, don't listen to a word Prussia said," Saxon said firmly, "that man aims to break everyone down, whether with a sword or words."

"Secondly," Wald continued, "you are being way too hard on yourself. We are not experts on wings, but like any injury, you will have to wait for them to heal so you can use them." He laid a supportive hand on the country, "You will need to wait for your wings to heal, and then you can fly. Don't jump to conclusions."

"And finally," the entity added, "you still have a purpose. We don't know how you feel, being unable to fly right now, but you still have Rowen and Johann to take care of, and they are there to take care of and love you. Maybe even out there, your sons are alive and well." Saxon breathed out a long sigh, "No matter who you are, winged or not, the richest or the poorest person alive, the purpose in life is your family. I remember what your son said to me about family, even if he was quoting you, that they are the only ones you got, so you have to cherish and protect them."

M:   Mandoria looked up to him, his grey eyes staring into Saxon's blue ones, seeing how much the entity meant every word he said was enough to calm him down a little, taking a deep breath he slowly nodded, "ok," he quietly murmured.

He sat up with the help of the two insurgents and took a second to look over his injuries, there was nothing too severe, just some scrapes and bruises from the tree branches he fell through, though when he attempted to stand it hurt to put pressure on his right leg.

"Damn it, I think I bruised my leg pretty bad," he said, rubbing it as he leaned against Saxon for support, "I'm sorry Saxon, I've probably slowed us down, haven't I, I just don't know what came over me."

N:   "Don't apologize," Saxon insisted, "we will get you patched up and you will ride on Edel for the remainder of the journey." Wald and Saxon helped Mandoria back, the entity holding on tighter to support him better.

When they came back to the cave, the insurgent ordered the soldier to bring a medic, and the commotion caused Johann to wake up. He raised his head, wondering where Mandoria went, and when he saw him, he began to worry. "Father, what happened?" the man asked.

M:   "I ..." Mandoria started, not really sure how to explain the feeling he had earlier, "I don't know how to explain it, I went outside for some fresh air and sunlight and for a moment ... forgot about our bleak situation, and felt the urge to go for a fly around, well, obviously it didn't work out in my favor."

The country sighed sadly, his energy fading the more his flightlessness sunk in, he eventually just shook it off and tried to put on a smile, "So how did you sleep, I assume fairly well since you and Rowen decided to use me as a bed."

N:   Johann looked at Mandoria with concern, but he didn't push further, so he smiled when the subject changed, "Sorry about that, it's just that you're really comfy." He looked at Rowen on him and chuckled, "But it seems like Hezyka is using me as a pillow."

He watched as a soldier came with a medic, and Wald nodded in thanks. "Just get yourself comfortable," the insurgent told the country, "you're in good hands now."

M:   "Thanks," Mandoria said to Wald, he stretched out his arm so the medic could start with the cuts there. He chuckled too as he saw Rowen clinging to Johann like a baby bear, "I'd say you're more of a plush animal to him right now," he joked.

The conversation went silent as Mandoria was getting patched up, there wasn't much to treat as most of the scratches weren't that deep, it was mostly just disinfecting and wrapping, however, things unfortunately got a little awkward when the medic tried to assess Mandoria's leg and received pleasured noises and actions. He stopped when he became too uncomfortable and Mandoria whined, "Why'd you stop," he mewled, a noticeable blush on his face.

N:   The medic looked at the country, visibly uncomfortable, and he glanced at the two insurgents, waiting for an answer to the behavior. "I almost forgot about this," Saxon mumbled, and he offered to treat Mandoria in his place, to which the medic agreed and stepped aside.

With his guidance, the entity was able to treat Mandoria's leg, but the country still uttered pleasured noises as he worked so he tried to push it out of his head. At the end, Saxon was done and he stood up, but he quickly shuddered when the noises that he heard finally sunk in. Afar off, Johann watched the whole thing and was put off by it, "umm," he finally said, "that was weird."

M:   When Mandoria saw Johann's face he realized what he did and felt embarrassed about it, "sorry about that," he muttered, looking away, "I don't know why I do that, it just feels weirdly pleasurable being touched on my legs, especially the inner thighs, and I just can't help but feel euphoric about it."

"It's because Prussia trained you to feel that way," Rowen explained, having woken up a short while ago and was watching what happened, he then said to everyone, "he did it to all of us, only Johann and I never felt pleasure, only pain and embarrassment. My thought as to why you're more susceptible to it, Mandoria, is because you're a countryhuman, and you've said it yourself that countryhumans are more sexually driven than humans, right."

Mandoria nodded, "that's true, bitterly true for some more than others. I'm sorry that I made you all uncomfortable, I just couldn't help it."

N:   Johann became uncomfortable with the topic, and he sat up and absentmindedly stroked Edel's fur since they were huddled together. "Don't apologize, Father," he muttered, "you never chose this to happen to you, and the only person who should apologize is Prussia."

"If that's ever going to happen," a voice said behind them, and the Mandorian turned to see Wolfgang in his uniform, his hair a mess. He heard the tail end of the conversation and he spoke, "I'm pretty sure King Prussia doesn't even know what an apology is."

The knight gave Mandoria a once over, "What happened to you," but when he saw the faces of everyone else, he shrugged, "You know what, never mind, I'm too tired for this."

"How are you tired," Johann asked, "aren't knights trained to wake up early?"

"I haven't had a decent rest in forever," the Prussian answered, "when I'm at the stronghold, I have to wake up early and stay up until pretty late. At home, my Vater insists that I keep up with the schedule, and he would check if I'm awake too." The knight crossed his arms and placed his head in them, "and he did it today."

M:   "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll break out of that habit as time goes on," Rowen reassured the tired Prussian, "though on the note of getting up early it probably is a good idea to wake the others, the rain last night may have covered our tracks for the time being but we shouldn't push our luck and leave as soon as we can."

"Agreed," Mandoria added, "I wouldn't forgive myself if we led Prussia here and he turned this beautiful community into what I'm sure he did to my former kingdom."

N:   "I'll go and check if everyone's awake," Wolfgang volunteered, standing up and walking further into the cave.

"On the topic of leaving," Wald spoke, "I've arranged a weekend's worth of provisions for the journey, so I'll get some of the soldiers to load them into the carts, and as soon as everyone is ready, we'll leave." He too left to gather the soldiers and to get everything ready.

For the next couple of hours, people were waking up, going through their morning routines while breakfast was served. The insurgent insisted that everyone take their time since it was taking a while to load everything in. Johann finished rather quickly, despite being told to slow down, so he sat down at the mouth of the cave, fiddling with Hunderl, which he always kept in a pouch on his belt.

M:   Mandoria did take his time, mostly because he didn't feel that hungry after his flight attempt, Rowen was worried about his lack of appetite but knew he probably didn't want to talk about it, so he left him be and finished his breakfast before going to help load the carts.

About two hours later when the sun was nearing its peak in the sky and everything was pretty much ready to go, Rowen went to get Saxon to tell them they were ready but instead found Mandoria telling stories to the children, holding the little girl he befriended in his lap.

"-The battle was a fierce one, England was outnumbered five to one, and had I not arrived when I did would have been killed and my son taken," he said, recounting the attempted kidnapping of Derogan, "despite my best efforts I still was not able to face them all alone, Anglo, Saxon, and Rowen all came to my aid and we were able to defeat the Prussian knights. Though it would have cost me my life had the wolf goddess Ora not appeared and healed me, I still have the scar on my throat."

He pulled down the neck of his shirt just enough to show a faint line that spread across one side of his neck to the other, the child in his lap started trying to grab at it like she was trying to pull it off. Rowen chuckled at the scene and just stood back and watched, happy that Mandoria was happy with the children.

N:   Wald was finally able to place the last box of provisions into the carts, stepping back as he let out a sigh, "all done," he said as he turned around to see the entity securing the horses to the carts, "we are ready."

"Good," Saxon replied, petting the horse, "all done here." He turned the other way to see Wolfgang talking to Blackjack.

"Come on, buddy," the knight spoke gently, "you need to be a team player," but the horse huffed in indignation, giving a side glance to Midnight, who also nickered in response. "You better not give me that attitude," he spoke firmly, but when the stallion head-butted him, he sighed, "alright, if I give you an apple, would you work with Midnight?" Blackjack went silent as if contemplating the deal, and he finally nudged the Prussian softly, accepting the deal. Wolfgang chuckled as he handed over an apple, which the horse promptly ate. "It's ok on this end," he called to Saxon.

The entity nodded and he walked around to find anyone, telling them that the carts were ready, when he found Mandoria and Rowen nearby. "We are ready," he told the Mandorian, and he looked at the crowd of children, specifically the girl on the country's lap, "and I think someone's going to miss Mandoria."

M:   "I think the feeling will be mutual," Rowen said, "children have always held a special place in his heart, especially the younger ones, and saying goodbye is always hard," he then called over to Mandoria, "Hey, we're ready to leave, you need to say goodbye to your friends now."

Mandoria frowned at Rowen but nodded, saying goodbye to the older kids and giving the little girl a gentle hug before handing her back to her mother. "I'm gonna miss you little one, I doubt I will ever be able to come back, but as long as you keep that feather with you I will be too, ok."

The little girl nodded and leaned over for one more hug, Mandoria happily returned it and let a few tears fall down his cheeks, he truly was going to miss this special little child. When they parted and the mother walked away Mandoria stood there until they were out of view, at which point Rowen walked up and helped him stand.

"I'm truly going to miss that little girl, I never got her name but I will never forget her," the country said.

N:   Saxon nodded, not saying anything so Mandoria could have a moment, afterwards he led them to the carts, where everyone else was loading into the carts. Edel was also nearby, so he helped Rowen to place Mandoria on the dragon, and he smiled when he saw that he was comfortable.

At the front cart, Erna was checking on her horse, her chicken in her arms, petting it as it slept. She was just talking to Wolfgang when she saw Johann talking to Heinrich, the Mandorian's back turned towards her, and she smirked.

She pointed towards Johann and then the chicken, to which the other knight smiled and stepped aside to allow her through. Slowly, she snuck behind Johann, who was busy talking, and Heinz saw her coming but kept a straight face. When she was close enough, she raised the sleeping chicken right behind Johann's head. "Kress," she spoke, "can I talk to you?"

"Sure," he replied, and he turned around to see a chicken completely fill his vision, and predictably, shrieked. The chicken woke up from the sound and also shrieked from seeing a human being way too close for its liking, causing Johann to yelp and jump into the cart.

M:   Rowen and Mandoria burst out laughing, not to be rude, mostly because that's what Mandara and Derogan described happened to Saxon, except for the jumping into Anglo's arms part.

"Johann you're really going to need to work on your fear of chickens," Rowen chuckled as he climbed into the cart next to his son, "if my calculations are correct we've got a week's journey ahead of us just to get to the channel that separates the British Empire from the rest of Europe."

"Saxon, are we still meeting British troops when we exit the Prussian kingdom?" Mandoria asked

N:   "Most likely," Saxon replied, "I was thinking that Dutch Republic could send over some of his soldiers, but after the number of wars between our two nations, I doubt it, but I'm sure he would allow us safe passage through his land."

Once everyone was ready, Wald rode up in front on a horse, with Erna being the driver of one of the carts. "I'm going to lead you to the kingdom's edge, where you will meet the British," he said, "but that is as far as I can go since I still have a duty to fulfill here." He smirked as he pointed at himself, "So you guys have the next week or so to be around the amazing specimen of a person before we part ways."

Saxon rolled his eyes as he chuckled, "Enough about you, let's get going."

 "Impatient I see," the insurgent grinned, so he redirected his steed, "Next stop, the Dutch Republic."

M:   Mandoria chuckled at Wald's ranting, then he flicked the rope tied to Edel's smaller horns, which were posing as makeshift reins, and they all started off, making their way to the Dutch Republic to finally leave the Prussian Empire.

The journey was long and tense, every night they would travel and every day they would find someplace well hidden to rest, mostly avoiding any towns or settlements unless Wald would go to gather information about King Turkey Buzzard himself. By the third day of their travel, they learned that Prussia had returned from Spain and went berserk when he learned that his high-value prisoners escaped, burning the stronghold to the ground and slaughtering any guard that managed to survive Saxon, eventually announcing to the kingdom that if the prisoners were found they were to be executed immediately.

That wasn't the only bad news, unfortunately, Mandoria started getting sick again but this time no one knew what was causing it, and by the time they reached the midpoint between Saxony and the border, he couldn't move without feeling pain and nausea.

The group was resting at the edge of a river they had to cross, though even though everyone was asleep Rowen and Johann stayed up to take care of Mandoria in his tent. Rowen was ringing out a cold, wet towel and placed it over the country's forehead, gently hushing him as he listened to his painful moans.

 "We can't keep going on like this," he muttered to his son, "if we don't find out what's making him ill soon I doubt he's going to last much longer, is Wald back from that village we passed by, he said he was going to get some medical supplies."

N:   "Not yet," Johann replied, holding the bowl for his father, "although he said that he will be as quick as possible." He gazed at Mandoria, seeing the pain on his face, and he muttered, "We are so close to getting out of here, yet so far." Placing the bowl down, he began to wonder, "We don't know if it's his wings, or from what Prussia did, it just came out of nowhere." The Mandorian began to rock slightly as he hugged his legs, wondering what was making his father ill.

Soon after, the both of them heard the galloping of a horse, so Johann poked his head out to see Wald, dressed in his undercover clothes, carrying the medical supplies in a bag. The insurgent immediately hopped off his horse and tied the reins to a post where the other horses were, and quickly made his way to the tent. "I tried to get everything you needed," he said, opening the bag to reveal the supplies, and he looked at Mandoria, "did you figure out what was causing it?"

M:   Rowen shook his head, "We haven't, and I'm worried that with how ill he's become it will make things worse if we keep going."

He took the bag and started going through it to find anything that could help while still explaining, "his fever is getting hotter by the day and if I move him too harshly he starts puking up blood, it could be an intestinal parasite which would explain the blood, but he has this weird black mark on his chest that's been getting bigger and I've never seen anything like it."

Rowen set down the bag and slowly pulled the blanket off of Mandoria's chest to show the insurgent. It was a large black and purple splotch originating where the brand mark was, black tendrils spread out like veins from the mark and the eagle symbol looked red and inflamed.

"Sometimes the brand mark will start bleeding, which doesn't make any sense, it's almost two to three years old so it shouldn't be open," Rowen said, "either poisoning or magic I'd say, and if it's the later there's basically nothing we can do but pray maybe."

N:   Wald observed the mark and his mouth hung open a bit, "I've never seen anything like it," he stated, looking at Rowen, "we at least have some way to cure poisons, but we need to know what he was poisoned with, but if it was magic," he shook his head, "I don't know."

Johann peeked up at the mention of magic, "Couldn't people perform magic back home, like the priests, and what if Prussia learned how to use it?"

M:   "Anything's possible really," Rowen sighed, pulling the blanket back up to keep Mandoria warm, "we've been trying to hide magic from Prussia for so long but I wouldn't be surprised if he learned something during the time he's controlled the kingdom, though I haven't the faintest idea what he would have learned to cause this, harmful magic was forbidden and anyone found practicing it was arrested and or executed, so I don't know. Besides, the only one here who could have the faintest memories of magic is Mandoria and he just doesn't have the strength to do such things."

Rowen felt his hand being grabbed and looked down to the fallen country, he was awake but there was nothing but pain and fear in his eyes. He hushed him and tried to say some reassuring words, letting out a quiet sob when he couldn't think of any.

"I'm so sorry love," he murmured, "I don't know how to help you, I don't know how to ease your pain or even what's happening to you, I'm so, so sorry."

The tired man lowered his head into Mandoria's hand and silently wept, scared that he was going to lose his husband when they were so close to freedom.

N:   Johann just stared at Mandoria, feeling useless because he couldn't do anything. After a while, he laid down and curled up next to his father, not wanting to ever leave him.

Wald silently watched the Mandorians, not sure if he should speak, so instead, he gave them some space and left the tent, wandering aimlessly until he came across Edel. Seeing him asleep, he quietly sat next to the dragon and placed his head in his hands.

"I don't suppose you know how to help Mandoria," he asked Edel, not seeing if he was listening, "I mean, you're a dragon, do you know how to perform magic?" After a couple of minutes of since, the insurgent ruefully chuckled, "Who am I kidding, how is a dragon supposed to do magic?"

M:   Edel opened his one eye to stare up at Wald, whining a little like he was saying he didn't know if he could or not. He sat up and spread out a wing, it still had the inscription that brought him to life embedded in the membrane, he sniffed it a bit but whined again, just plopping his head down and sighed, looking defeated.

A few hours later and nothing had changed much, everyone was still asleep and Rowen was still trying to do something to help Mandoria's pain, but to no avail. Edel popped in to check on them but Rowen pushed him away, too focused and frustrated to deal with him right now. With a whine Edel went away, but not before grabbing a feather that was on the floor, he walked over to Saxon's tent and pushed his head through the opening. He lay down next to the entity and nuzzled him to wake him up.

N:   Saxon mumbled in his sleep while Edel was waking him up, and when he finally woke up, he was confused to see the dragon's head in his tent. When he saw the feather, he sighed, "he's not doing well, is he?" Swinging his legs off the bed, he stood up as he followed Edel to the tent, hesitating in front of the opening before entering.

Johann lay half asleep next to Mandoria while Rowen was working, so he spoke, "Is there anything I could help with?"

M:   "Not unless you can work miracles," Rowen grumbled, not turning to Saxon. He was rubbing an herb paste onto the black mark on Mandoria's chest, trying his best to soothe him as he groaned in pain.

"Please just go away Saxon," he said, "it's not worth getting all worked up about anymore, I doubt he's even going to make it to this evening."

Rowen sounded unemotional as he said that, but in reality, his emotions were burnt out so he couldn't feel much of anything. He hasn't slept for the past 48 hours and barely had anything to eat or drink as he focused all his energy on caring for Mandoria, the exhaustion had more than taken his toll and now he just sounded irritable, which he was at how useless he felt despite doing everything he could.

N:   Seeing his reaction, the entity fully entered the tent, "and you are going to stop right now and rest."

He knew that Rowen was going to argue back, so he continued, "You've barely slept, you have used all your energy to help Mandoria, and that is just going to hurt you." He walked up to him and crouched down, "If you are not taking care of yourself, then you're going to be ill, and the added stress will not help either of you, so it is either you stop and let me help, or you continue and make it worse."

 He stared right at the Mandorian and said, "And I'm not taking no as an answer, otherwise you will have to fight me to continue."

M:   Rowen just stared at Saxon wordlessly, his eyes were dull and the bags under them were probably twice as big, he had been up so long that any energy that he might have had to argue was being used just to stay awake. He silently handed Saxon the rest of the herb past and crawled over to Johann, curling up with him and closing his eyes.

"Please just keep him alive," he muttered under his breath, "he doesn't deserve to die like this, not when we're so close, not after what we've been through." And with that, not another noise came out of him.

Mandoria then opened his eyes and looked up at Saxon, his grey irises were almost a black color and there wasn't any life in them, making the country seem that he was already gone on the inside and now was just an empty husk. He tried to reach up to Saxon but his arm fell limply to the ground, unable to hold its own weight.

N:   "Don't use any more energy," Saxon said softly, rubbing the herb paste on Mandoria. The entity then began to trace the tendrils with the paste, covering every inch of the mark until it was completely covered. Looking over to Rowen, he checked if he was asleep, and when he was sure that the both of them were, he muttered quietly to Mandoria, "What I'm going to do, do not tell a soul."

He began to mumble a chant, and with his finger he traced out two letters, runes, in the herb paste, right over the brand, mixing it with the blood that was left behind. One of them was a vertical line with two lines coming out of it, diagonally upwards, resembling the letter F, and the other looked like a trident. "Fe-hu," the entity spoke, and the first rune began to glow, "Algiz," and the other began to glow. Finally, he ended in a single sentence in Old High German, a language he hasn't spoken in a long time, which roughly translated to, "May the gods grant us favor and help my friend."

The entity watched as the runes began to shine brightly, the Fehu rune creating its own tendrils and tracing over the ones in Mandoria's skin, slowly making them disappear until what was left was the original brand mark. The Algiz rune rose into the air and formed a shield around the country, slowly becoming invisible until they could no longer see it.

"There you go," Saxon said, exhausted from casting the runes, "Healing and Protection. Anglo is going to kill me if he found out I did rune magic." He turned to face Mandoria, complete exhaustion in his eyes despite being awake a few minutes ago, "it takes a toll, so wake me up in a couple of hours." With that, he fell and lay on his side, immediately sleeping.

M:   Mandoria inhaled sharply as Saxon rubbed on the paste, every touch felt like red hot knives piercing his flesh, the pain preventing him from uttering a sound, and letting out a pained, shallow breath when the entity retracted his hands.

The country understood what Saxon was talking about so he nodded and braced for what was to come. It was painful at first, the brand burning as the herb paste got into the wound but once the Fe-hu rune started healing him it slowly faded away, his lungs and heart, which felt like they were being crushed by whatever was creating the mark, were released and he took a deep relieved breath.

When Saxon told him to wake him in a few hours and went to sleep he chuckled, "thank you," was all he muttered before he too succumbed to exhaustion.