Thursday, March 27, 2014

The Hunter Prince: The Difficulty With Wounds

Morius was still breathing at the end of their attempts at healing; that was probably the best that could be said for it. They had wanted to lay him down, so he wouldn't move while his flesh was closing; instead, the change of position had hurt him even more. Cyjar had intended to withdraw the wood, so it wouldn't be in the way while Janiva's magic was trying to heal him; instead, the wood turned out to be holding back a river of blood, and it had taken all the magic Cyjar could muster to hold it back. It had been exhausting, since he had no particular skill to use for that; he'd done it with nothing but power and will, and by the time Janiva had closed that wound, Cyjar's whole body was shaking with exertion. Straightening the leg hadn't been so hard, but by then Janiva was too tired to finish the work.

They'd splinted the leg, using broken wood and bits of Cyjar's vest that they cut into strips. Morius was breathing more evenly, and more deeply, so Cyjar had tried calling for help.

He hadn't expected anyone to answer, so he wasn't disappointed when nobody did.

"Wait," said Janiva. "Somebody will come looking for us. If we're quiet, we can call when we hear them."

"We won't hear them," said Morius, sounding bleary. Then he drew a ragged breath. "I closed the door behind us, so we wouldn't be caught. They won't hear us, either."

Janiva and Cyjar exchanged a glance.

A moment later Morius asked, "How badly am I hurt?"

"Not as bad as before," said Cyjar, "but your leg's still broken."

"...And you two?"

"Battered," said Janiva, "but intact."

"Then I didn't get you both killed. Good." Morius paused to draw another ragged breath. "I would have felt bad about that."

"So would we," answered Cyjar, and Janiva chuckled.

Morius sniffed. "So what do we do now?"

"There are three of us," said Janiva. "You're injured, so one of us should stay with you, and the other one should go for help." She turned to look at Cyjar, who nodded.

"You have more reach," he said. "Can you climb back up?"

Janiva offered a small, determined smile. "I can try."

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