I grab Bella in a light chokehold, making sure not to put too much pressure on her esophagus.
"Hey guys, I got Bella free! I think she's all right!" I yell, turning and waving to the others. They are huddled around one of the bandits. Glimmer and Whisperclaw glance my way, allowing the bandit to attempt to escape.
"Where do you think you're going?" Renald tackles him to the ground.
The bandit slips out from underneath Renald, kicking him in the face with his boot, before scrambling back to his feet. Whisperclaw throws the dagger she was holding into the bandit's calf. He trips and hits his head on a tree trunk, knocking himself out cold.
The first rays of the Tower's sun begin to peek through the black clouds. We all take a moment to rest, recover, and scavenge any supplies that may have survived the crash. I find a rope that I tie around Bella's neck and the other end to a tree. I also manage to find my basic medical kit and my surgery kit and get a chance to review the team's injuries.
The first person I check is Glimmer, who is bleeding profusely from a deep cut in his shoulder, going down to his collarbone. I pull two healing pills, my creations, out of my pouch and hand them to Glimmer.
"Take these. You should heal right up." I order him. Glimmer takes the pills without question. They heal his shoulder wound instantly.
Next, I check on Whisperclaw. She has by far taken the most damage. An arrow sticks into her side, another in her back, and blood pours from her nose.
She already took healing pills earlier—any more now, and she'll risk overdosing. I scratch my head before digging through my surgery kit for some bandages and a Cauterizer.
"How do I look, doc?" Whisperclaw attempts to joke.
"You have internal bleeding, your nose is broken, and quite honestly, I don't even know how you're still able to walk." I silence her. She shouldn't be able to walk, but examining the arrow in her back reveals that the arrowhead just barely missed her spinal cord.
From the blood coming from her mouth, I can tell that Whisperclaw will need real medical attention, not the temporary aid that I can provide in this forest.
"I'm going to pull the arrow out of your back now," I inform her very calmly. Whisperclaw clenches her jaw.
"Just get it over with already." She nods her agreement.
I jerk the arrow out, pulling it in a single motion. Whisperclaw lets out a small yelp, which turns into a series of pain-filled screams as I press the cauterizer into the wound, burning it closed.
"Arghhh! That hurts, dammit!" She howls.
"I know, I'm almost finished." I comfort her while avoiding her claws, swinging madly. Glimmer and Renald have to grab her arms and hold her down to keep her from slashing across my face.
"I'm about to pull out the other one," I say once Whisperclaw has calmed.
"Do it!" She grinds the words out through her clenched fangs, squeezing her eyes closed.
I try to quickly pull the arrow out of her side like I did the one in her back, but Whisperclaw jerks away at the last second. The arrowhead rips through her skin. Blood begins gushing out, and Whisperclaw's paws go limp.
"Oh no, Ironvine killed Whisperclaw!" Glimmer shrieks at Whisperclaw's limp body.
"Everything's fine!" I try to keep my composure. In all actuality, if she isn't dead, I think she's pretty close to it. I press the cauterizer into the wound, closing it.
The bleeding stops, but Whisperclaw doesn't move. Panic begins to set in. Maybe she lost too much blood before I could get to her. I press my ear close to her bosom, listening for any sounds of life.
Bumb, bumb. I let out a huge sigh of relief. I take another moment to wrap her wounds with the bandages I had grabbed.
"She must have finally passed out from all the pain." I say, chuckling, "She had you worried there for a second, Glimmer?"
"Oh, thank Abell!" Glimmer wipes the sweat from his brow.
My eyes wander over to Renald, who is pacing. I can tell he's the most worried.
"Alright." I stand and dust myself off. "She's stable. She's going to need some serious medical attention soon."
"I thought that's what you were giving her." Renald spits.
"I did what I could with the supplies we have left, but she needs surgery, and I can't perform to the level required with the supplies we have here." I continue, "The village that Vesper told us about, Amacedia, should be less than an hour's walk away on foot. If we can make it there, I should be able to heal her."
"What about him?" Glimmer points at the unconscious bandit.
"We're bringing him." Renald scoops Whisperclaw into his arms and walks over to Bella, "Grab any supplies that will fit in your bags. We're leaving. Now."
"Sure thing," I respond before Glimmer can say one of his usual witty remarks. Renald doesn't seem like he's in the mood for jokes.
We quickly gather supplies, shoving adventurers' kits, jerky, medical kits, scalpels, and anything else we could scavenge into our bags. Thank Celestria that we keep them on our persons. I don't know what would have happened to Whisperclaw if I didn't keep my cauterizer.
It takes us about 30 minutes to gather supplies and secure the bandit and Whisperclaw onto Bella's back. It takes us another hour or so to clear the makeshift barricade out of the way of the trail. The rain ends, and the Tower's Sun rises high in the sky when we start traveling again.
We travel along the trail, exhausted from lack of sleep and the fight from earlier. To my surprise, we pass by a few other groups. Some give us side eyes, probably thinking about how easily they could rob us. Our only saving grace is that we are so close to Amacedia's walls, Rangers are bound to be nearby. Nobody's stupid enough to try anything with the possibility that a Ranger might show.
"Hey, do you guys need some help?" A small, elvish girl with blonde hair pipes up as we pass by, "You all look pretty tired, and I'm sure you could all use something to eat."
"We're fine, thanks." Renald pushes past the small girl, bumping into a figure covered from head to toe in Royal Knight's Armor.
"There's no need to be rude," a metallic voice rings out from within the armor, "I think you should apologize to my friend here."
"And what if I don't?" Renald reaches for his saber. My mind scrambles, searching for a peaceful way to resolve the tension.
"Come now, Bayenor, I'm sure Tiphony didn't intend for a fight to occur on her behalf." A male Senat with solid black skin, a pair of large ram's horns growing out of his head similar to Renald's, a full set of all black knight's armor, and a pair of black bat-like wings folded shut on his back, places a hand on the shoulder of the figure in the Knight's armor. He has a blood red long sword on his back, and a black tail with a sharp barb at the end flicks around behind him. Something about him feels familiar to me, but I can't put my finger on it.
"But Xyron…" The figure in the Knight's armor, Bayenor, starts to say.
"No buts." The Senat, called Xyron, interrupts, turning and flashing a grin towards Renald, revealing razor-sharp fangs.
A chill runs down my spine, and my gut punches a message into my head. This man is bad news. Renald takes a step back, fully placing his hand on his saber now.
"What do you want with us?" He asks. I notice a slight quiver in his voice.
"I don't want anything to do with you in particular…" Xyron steps towards Bella, "... My little Tiphony here noticed that your jackal companion on your Bison seems to be bleeding out internally."
I clench my fangs, trying to keep myself calm. How did they know that just from walking up? It doesn't make any sense.
"Here." Xyron sticks his hand out, "I'll heal it for you as a show of good faith."
"Stay away from her!" Renald reacts quicker, pulling his saber out and taking a slash at Xyron.
There is a blur of movement. Bayenor appears in front of Xyron, whips a spear off his back, knocks Renald's saber out of his hand, and then stabs the but of the spear into Renald's chestplate. He hits Renald so hard that he gets sent flying back towards me. I catch him before he hits the ground.
"That's strike two." Bayenor's metallic voice rings out from the armor.
"Bayenor! That's enough!" Xyron, visibly irritated, steps towards Renald, who is coughing up blood. "We didn't come here for violence."
Xyron places a hand on Renald's chest and sticks the other towards Whisperclaw. Both of his palms start to glow a dark red. I can see the blood leaking from Renald's mouth begin to flow back. Then the glow fades, and Xyron stands up.
"That should do it. I've saved you the hassle and healed your party members." He says, looking at me this time, "You don't have to thank us, after all, we were the cause of some of the damage."
Then he walks off, back towards where we had come from. Bayenor doesn't say a word. He places his spear on his back and follows Xyron. Tiphony waves at us and giggles before chasing behind the rest of her party.
"That was…" I help Renald back to his feet, "...strange."
"I don't think strange even begins to describe it." Glimmer pipes up. I had almost forgotten he was here because he was quiet the whole time.
"Me neither. They didn't even have a full party." Renald huffs, stretching his chest. "He did heal my chest, though, I guess I was too hasty."
"He gave me a bad feeling, almost like I've seen him somewhere before," I try as hard as I can to remember where I've seen Xyron before.
Suddenly, my vision starts to go out, and it gets hard to breathe. My body gives out, and I sink to my knees. My chest feels tight. Images begin to flow into my head of a certain night, a certain temple. A certain face appears. The bloody face of my mother as her dead body drops to the ground. A sharp pain shoots through my head. All I can hear is ringing. All I can see are the faces of the attackers, the ones who took my family from me. I let out a deafening roar and leap towards the one closest to me, slamming him into the wall of the temple, over and over, until I feel a hand touch my shoulder. I see the face of my baby sister for a moment before everything collapses around me.
I'm not looking at my sister, I'm looking at Glimmer, who is attempting to stop me from breaking Renald's back against a tree.
"Woah! Woah! Take it easy, big guy!" Glimmer pleads with me, "Whatever Renald did, I'm sure we can all just talk about it!"
"S-sorry!" I stammer, coming back to my senses fully and releasing Renald slowly.
He looks pretty shaken up, and a sinking feeling begins to settle in my gut. Did I hurt him? This is why I swore off violence, to stop something like that from ever happening again.
"Ironvine. You back, man? We lost you for a second." Renald calmly places a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
"Wha-what? What do you mean?" I ask, laughing, trying to seem composed.
"I've seen my fair share of the look you had in your eyes just now." Renald reaches for Bella's rope, "We've all got our baggage, so you're good this time."
"What? What look?" Glimmer asks, confusion written all over his face.
"The look that one gets after they've seen something so terrible, they lock it away from their memories forever." Renald had read me like a book.