On the trek back to the castle everyone's feet were dragging. Their long faces spoke volumes. Amarna stood waiting with her lips drawn when Sergei pulled up. Setting eyes on the old man caused her face to light up and then drop into a scowl. She had work to do, there would be no time for pleasantries until later. The wagon hadn't stopped before she was climbing aboard to ascertain the injuries to those laid out in the bed.
"I hope I have not overstepped, but with the severity of their wounds, I feared they wouldn't make it. I have placed them in magical stasis. I didn’t know what else to do." A young Male voice sounded contritely in her head.
“No, no you did the right thing,” she replied in a shaky voice. “Eldrick could you and Sebastian lend a hand bringing these three to the house of healing? I have a feeling you both need to learn about healing,” she said, turning to look at Sergei. “I don’t often get premonitions, but, right now I think it is vital. I don't understand why.”
“You have yet to be wrong about the healing arts, Armana. Eldrick, Sebastian please do as she asks. I have a feeling your abilities may be required more than she knows. I am going to see his Majesty before he executes someone.”
The concern and fear were written plainly in his eyes. Sebastian nodded to Sergei, hopped off the wagon and grabbed the legs of one guardsman. Eldrick struggled to lift the shoulders, seeing this Sebastian traded places with Eldrick. Once all three men were gathered up, Amarna began leading the way to the House of Healing.
The House of Healing was located at the back of the castle grounds, past the tilt field and the falconry mews. The outer edifice, was a grand building of three floors, with large cut and dressed stone for the first and second floors, and the third floor was of wooden construction with a white plaster facing. The roof was covered with terracotta tiles. The large double doors stood welcomingly open. Two paths led to the front doors, one from the main castle grounds and the other leading from a postern gate in the castle curtain wall. The postern gate held a small gatehouse that housed a guard and junior healer.
Entering the foyer of the House of Healing, Amarna directed the bearers to place their charges on beds in a room to the left of the main entrance.
She began stretching knotted muscles, "Okay boys, you need to limber up as well if you are going to be assisting me."
Eldrick and Sebastian began the limbering routine. Sebastian starting the shoulder exercise let out a cry of pain as he clutched his right shoulder.
“Oh crap. Sebastian, I forgot that you were recently wounded in that shoulder." Amarna turned her eyes to the ground. "I shouldn't have asked you to help carry the wounded. Now I am going to have to look at that shoulder again.”
Amarna scowled over the injured in the room. Calling for additional healers, she settled down to check on Sebastian’s shoulder.
“A couple of stitches have pulled through the skin. I am going to have to re-suture this shoulder. No flying or lifting with this arm for at least a fortnight. I could speed the healing, however, if I do you may never regain full use of it. A dragon that cannot fly is in danger. Once I finish with the stitches, I need to ascertain the severity of the guard's injuries. I am hoping to complete the work before they are released from magical stasis, but I may need them released to see all the damage.”
Amarna began working on the shoulder, first cleaning up the blood oozing from the wound. She used cross-stitching this time instead of parallel stitches to offer greater support. With the stitching complete Amarna shifted her attention to the guardsmen. The first one she looked at had a puncture wound in his lower back that entered his kidney. She felt the only way to save him would be by using healing magics and then there was still the possibility it may fail. Deciding not to begin any major work until she had assessed all the injuries she proceeded to inspect the second. Here the wound was a ghastly slice across his midsection, luckily there didn’t seem to be any internal damage, but he was suffering from blood loss. The final guardsman looked like he had been through a gauntlet of blades, he was sliced in just about every conceivable way, from his head down to his boots. Knowing the skill of the guardsmen these were no ordinary wounds.
“Right, there is one I may not be able to save due to the location of the wound, one who only needs stitching, you two,” she said pointing to the healers who had just entered, “take the second man and stitch him up. Eldrick, you and Sebastian will be assisting me on the last man. There are signs that his injuries were caused by arcane means. I believe we will be here a while, trying time to save him.”
With her instructions given, Amarna headed over to the basin in which the other two healers were scrubbing their hands and arms to begin her own ablutions. Eldrick and Sebastian followed suit, scrubbing up as well. They scrubbed their hands and arms up to the elbow, paying special attention to under their nails.
Upon completion, they turned to assist with saving the guardsman. Amarna detailed the tools they would be using and the reasons for each. Making sure her assistants knew each tool by shape and name so that when she asked for a certain item it could be handed to her quickly.
Sebastian dropped himself into a trance without being told, feeling that he would need to remember everything during this session. Amarna worked with quick dispatch on the physical wounds with Eldrick and Sebastian watching and passing the required tools as needed. Once the visible injuries were addressed the real work began.
“Sebastian, what can you tell me about his magical energies? I am not sure which are his and which are foreign. There is quite a knot there.”
“I will need to study it before I can be certain. As you mentioned the knot is quite intense. I fear trying to untangle it may kill him, but leaving it intact will kill him. Give me a few moments to examine the energies.”
Sitting in trance he began following the energy lines. They appeared as differently coloured entities, red, green, and yellow. All were human-based energies, though the green was a putrid shade. It wrapped itself tightly around the red one slowly constricting it. The yellow, a sunny shade, seemed to try inserting itself between the other two, in what looked to be an attempt to free the red from the stranglehold of the putrid green. Seeing this Sebastian realized the green was the pervasive intruder, forced upon the guard. Reaching out mentally he caught both Eldrick and Amarna, carefully drawing them into the link.
"Amarna, I think I have figured out the issue, however, your expertise is now required. The golden thread is trying to protect the red thread. The green one is not a natural energy line. From what I can tell it is connected to his lungs and heart, removing it from one will cause the other to fail, while removing it from both simultaneously would result in his life force being crushed. The only way I can see to save him is to strengthen the golden thread of energy, and feed it between the other two, while carefully removing the red from the green if possible."
Amarna searching for a loose tendril of the golden thread began coiling it around the red one. Eldrick began feeding energy into the red, hoping to strengthen it. Sebastian watching for any reaction from the threads. As he watched he sensed energy being fed to the sickly green strand strengthening it in response to what Eldrick was doing.
"Sigmund, Sergei, come quickly we are going to need your help. He has a parasitic energy in his system which is being fed from somewhere, and we need to stop the feed."
"Hold up for a moment. Amarna, I have called for backup. I hope he can survive until they arrive."
With that, he gently released the link between himself and the others.
“What time is it?” Eldrick asked feebly. His voice wavered and seemed to get caught in his throat.
Amarna glancing about replied “By the eldritch, it is past dinner. You must be starving. I should have had food brought in before we started. When did you last eat?”
“Breakfast, before heading out to the field to destroy the dark artifacts. I don’t want to be a bother.”
"Bring food and water if you can."
"Sebastian, we will be there shortly."
About ten minutes later, Sergei, Sigmund and King Daividh entered the House of Healing all carrying trays of food. Eldrick stood shakily and bowed.
“Your Majesty,” he said.
“Sit down and eat boy. I am not here as your king but as a person concerned for your wellbeing. Now eat!”
Having finished eating, Sebastian re-established the link bringing Sigmund and Sergei in as well. With everyone in the link, he showed the situation to Sigmund and Sergei, they could follow the energy back to the source. Sebastian settled again to watch the progress as Eldrick began feeding energy to the red line to strengthen it while Amarna returned to feeding the golden line between the other two. Just as the red began strengthening once again so too did the green in response. Sebastian could sense Sergei begin casting a circle of protection sealing the room from outside energy and Sigmund leaving.
With the circle complete the green thread started shrivelling. The healers had to pick up their pace, if it pulled free from either of the two nodes prematurely it would kill him. Sebastian began crafting a magical suture to close off the points of separation once the green thread was dislodged. Within moments it was clear that the thread was going to pull free from both simultaneously.
"Amarna we are going to need to be ready to close the wounds once the thread pulls free, or we will lose him. I have a magical suture prepared for one but I cannot deal with both at the same time."
Understanding the message, Amarna began crafting a second suture and began sliding it into place near the lung leaving Sebastian to deal with the heart. As the thread started pulling free, they began sliding sutures into place, closing the wound as it was opening. This was not an easy task, if they moved too quickly they could cause the thread to rip away and not be able to close the wound. Micrometre by micrometre they slowly inserted the sutures, waiting for the chance to insert the next one. Work on this scale was taxing and time-consuming. When the thread was two-thirds free it suddenly released. Struggling they worked to get the life-saving sutures in place in time to save the guardsman, sweat beading on their foreheads. After checking to make sure that their patient would survive, they slowly left the link.
Eldrick was passed out on the floor barely breathing when Sebastian opened his eyes to survey the room. In shock, he rushed over to Eldrick and picked him up, while checking his life energy levels, which were threateningly low compared to normal.
“Noooo!! Eldrick you are not going to die on me! I should have known better than to have you feeding energy to another. You would give your life to save others. You don’t know your limits yet. Come on, please don't have given too much. I need you to wake up," tears began rolling down his face. "We have a journey to take and we had better take it together.”
“Let me see him," Amarna took Eldrick out of Sebastion's arms. "You are not to be lifting. I do not wish to have to sew you up yet again,” she said while checking Eldrick's energies. “Ok, he hasn’t drained himself too much. He is just sleeping. He needs to gather the energy he expended. I expect him to sleep for about twenty-four hours, but he is going to be exceedingly hungry when he wakes. Give him fruit and juice. No meat, it takes too much energy to digest." She turned her head, "Sergei I will have someone bring him to your chambers. Leave the circle, for now, we don't know exactly what happened. Sebastian, you have a task to complete before you head off to your own rest. I need the stasis removed from them. I can deal with the physical injuries.”
Sebastian releasing the stasis field on the guardsman, was glad to see he was still breathing and his life energy was strong and vibrant. Leaving, he returned to the chambers he shared with Sergei and Eldrick.
Waiting in the room, were Sigmund and another man he didn’t recognize. The man, wan and dirty, looked like he hadn’t eaten in weeks. He looked like he could be either sleeping or in some sort of trance. No amount of prodding could wake him, though Sebastian could detect a heartbeat.
"Why don’t you get some rest? I will watch over him until the morning, besides I highly doubt he will be going anywhere in his current state. I would like Amarna to have a look at him, but she too needs of rest."
Nodding Sergei saw to Eldrick. Once the two young boys were securely ensconced in their room, Sergei returned to the sitting room.
“What is it you are not telling me, my friend? I know you are hiding something.”
"Indeed… I am struggling with the news and just how to express it. Things are going on that run counter to everything you and I believe in. The druid order is corrupt, I fear there may be no way to save it. My kind once respected the order and was respected by it. The current high druid has been hunting our kind for his own gain, which has not been that greatly kept a secret, though now he is teaching others to do the same. I am afraid our numbers are dwindling fast. In the last year, about twenty of us have gone missing. There are only about five hundred of us left. As you know we do not live in communities but are spread out over the world. My nephew left home just before winter and I fear for him though I have discovered his whereabouts. Teach him well, please my son."
“He has already read every tome you left with me. Though how he managed to absorb all that information in a fortnight is beyond me. He seems devoted to Eldrick, and Eldrick to him.”
"If I am correct, they are soulbound. If that is the case, they may have some issues and benefits. I would hate to be the one to try separating them against their will."
“Thanks, old friend. I need to get some sleep myself. Have a good night.” With that Sergei rose and headed to bed.
