章 11: Goodbyes

**ARTHUR'S POV**

The day after Addie got sick, Dad and I were leaving for the city. If we weren't taking the wagon with us, we would be getting there by the time that night came. However, since we had a full load on the wagon, we wouldn't be there until late morning tomorrow or early afternoon. When we went on a sale's trip it always took us a little over a day's worth of travel in each direction.

I thought for sure that it would have just been Dad and I riding the horses as fast as we could until we got to the city. If this was as important as he said it was, if we had to hurry like he said we did, then why were we making this take longer than it could have? Why weren't we moving as quickly as we could?

He didn't want to answer me just yet. He said we would talk about it all after we left for the city, he didn't want Mom or Catherine to overhear any of it. All we were going to do at the house in the morning was say our goodbyes.

I was nervous. I felt like there was something going on that I didn't know anything about, but I was still part of. I didn't like the feeling of that at all. It was unsettling to feel like there was so much going on around me that I had no control over. I could just imagine how Addie felt right now.

"Be careful, both of you." Mom was saying as she pulled me in for a hug and squeezed me tight.

"We will, Mom. We always are." I assured her.

"Don't take too many risks. Just do what you need to do and get home. We need all of us together and healthy again." There were tears in my mom's eyes as she cupped my cheeks and looked up into my eyes. I was taller than her now, but not by too much. Dad was still taller than me, though.

"Don't worry, Helen, we will be back before you know it." Dad said as he pulled mom into a hug next. "We've made this journey several times before." He reminded her.

"Arthur?" Catherine ran up to me after Dad had pulled Mom away from me.

"It's alright, Catherine. You don't need to worry. We will be back in a few days. A week at most. We will make sure that we get the medicine for Addie. I won't let us fail." I was determined to make that statement a reality. I was too stubborn to let go now.

"Come home soon, Arthur. Come home with Dad and the medicine. I don't want my family to be broken."

At first, I didn't know what she meant by broken, but it hit me after a moment or two. She didn't want to have us leave her and then her family would be incomplete. Catherine was still younger than me, and perhaps due to having been pampered and slightly babied, she was a little more immature than either Addie or I were.

"Don't worry, Catherine." I said as I knelt down in front of her and looked her in the eyes. I won't let that happen. We will be a whole family. Not broken.

Shortly after that, Dad and I left the house. We were on the road with the wagon rattling underneath us. The two horses in front of us were trotting away at a steady pace. If I tried really hard, I could probably pretend this was just any other normal sale's trip. Almost.

"Dad?" I called out to him in a quiet voice.

"Yes, son?" He too spoke softly when he responded.

"Can you tell me what the healer said now? Tell me what it is that we're going to be looking for in the city when we get there? Can you tell me why you look so nervous?" I bombarded him with questions and didn't really give him the chance to answer any of them.

"So, you could tell that I was nervous about this trip?" He laughed as he turned to look at me. "I hadn't realized that I was being so obvious."

"Perhaps you weren't. Perhaps I was just able to pick up on it because I spend so much time with you on these trips."

"That's possible." Dad took a hand from the reins and put it on my shoulder, squeezing it gently. "Alright son, I will tell you everything. You need to know since you are the one that will be helping me here."

Dad proceeded to tell me the whole tale. He told me about the withering flu. He told me that if Addie didn't get the meds that she was going to die. He also told me that the cure was incredibly hard for a human to get their hands on.

Now I was afraid. Would we even be able to find a wolf that would be willing to make this trade with us? Was it even possible for my sister to live? Was I going to become a liar in Catherine's eyes?

All of those questions and more were racing through my head at a pace that was making me dizzy. This was not what I thought we were going to be doing when we got to the city. This was not at all what I was expecting.

**BRIAR'S POV**

I watched this morning as the Mercer father and his boy left the village. They were heading to the city in an attempt to trade for the medicine that the girl needed. I hoped like hell that he would find someone that would trade with him for goods and money. That girl deserved to live.

Not to mention, I was still curious about why she had those runes on her wrists. I had noticed them when I was working with the mother to check the girl for injuries or other causes to her current condition.

I thought about those marks and what it meant that she had them on her body. I could tell by the feel of them that they were something that she was born with, they weren't added as she got older. So, what could possibly cause a girl like her to be born with runic marks? That was the truly mysterious thing in my opinion.

Still, I would never find out if the girl didn't survive.

"Good luck, Mercer." I said as I watched the wagon disappear over the horizon. "May luck always find you."

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