"Oh no. Oh no."
She began running back and forth while in her head she tried to both understand what had just happened and what she should do next. The man had fallen unconscious and needed medical attention, obviously, but she had no way of getting him back to her clinic like this.
The pool of blood coming from his head spoke of urgency and she needed to get that blood to stop, or stifle it enough where she could go get help. Head wounds tend to bleed the worst and she had little on her as far as aid supplies to help put a cork on that wound.
She grabbed a fist full of her skirt and ripped it down her leg, exposing her blood covered stocking from before this mess and began to bundle it up into what would be a decent absorbent pad. Now she needed something to secure it with. She didn't like the idea of shredding her clothes further and running through town, but she remembered that soiled stocking could have one last purpose before she threw it away.
She unfastened the tops of the stocking from her garter belt and rolled it down to her ankle, she then slipped the ring that held the stocking to her foot off her toe and slid it off her leg. She stretched the fabric to its full length and began to work immediately on the man's wound.
The lace trim of the stocking was gently tucked underneath the wrap, for dignity's sake, and now she felt she could sprint off for help with one less thing to worry about.
She burst from the wood-line and began sprinting towards the town, but then she took a quick turn before approaching the gates and began to run parallel to the village. The posted guards just watched her run by.
'I can't go into town! They'll make me explain this shit!' She thought as she ran from the inner village line towards the farming community. She bound over the low fences and ran through the crop fields; a farmer or two waved as she leapt by, clearly intrigued by her running but not enough to try and stop her.
She burst from the fields and dirt road towards her clinic which sat on a small hill over looking the farm lands. As she reached the building she ran around back towards the horse stable where she kept the horse buggy for emergencies. There she saw the stable aid, Yanos, cleaning out the stable like every morning.
"Hey there Lady Lavellan, you look awful." He said as though that was something he said every morning.
"I need Naug'seus! Get the buggy on him!" She yelled while trying to catch her breath. She pointed towards the horse as if show that there was no time to start asking questions; she placed her hands on her knees and tried to calm down.
He grabbed the lead rope and hooked it around the horse's neck and led him with a strong arm towards the small buggy. He secured the harnesses and led him back to Dahlia who was now holding the stitch in her side, face flustered and hair disheveled. This was a lot of running to do before breakfast.
She gathered the reigns and before Yanos could offer any further help, she had the horse running out the clinic gates and down the road.
When she finally got to where the man lay she saw the makeshift bandage was already soaked through and useless. She tried picking up the man by slinging his body over her back and dragging him into the cart, but he was incredibly heavy for her small frame. The first time she tried his dead weight had forced her into the ground underneath him. Maybe she should have let Yanos come with her.
After a few more attempts that only managed to hurt her in the process, she got his limp body into the back of the buggy and took off towards her clinic.
Quick jerks and bumpy roads did nothing to help his condition, she was sure. When she finally entered the gated archway to her home she positioned the buggy outside the front doors and ran back to the stables to see if Yanos was able to help her get this man upstairs into her spare room.
The clinic did not house patients, anything that required bed rest was treated at their home. However, she had no idea where this man called home and so she was left with no choice but for her home to play hospital until his recovery.
But Yanos was no where to be found.
She yelled for him inside the clinic and out and still no answer. With a sickness in her stomach she ran through her house and opened every door leading to the spare room and returned to the buggy to try and heave the man upstairs.
What a joke.
Getting him off the buggy was the easy part, but now she felt as though she were a turtle with a really heavy shell. She was on her hands and knees trying to get this man up stairs without losing her balance or having him accidentally slide off her shoulders and roll down the stairs.
The pain in her knees and shoulders were nothing compared to the exhaustion she felt as she managed to carry a man who felt like twice her weight into a spare bed on the second floor of her home.
After getting him into the bed she collapsed on the floor in an effort to catch her breath when she heard the loud singsong voice of her chipper assistant calling after her in the vestibule.
Jun-Bug, as Dahlia calls her, became her assistant a few years ago after she realized she needed the help when she became the primary healer to the whole village after the death of her mentor. Jun came from a family of healers and was actually a very competent one, if she could focus on her work instead of whatever she latched onto that week.
"Dolly!" The girl hits octaves not suitable for elvhen ears to withstand.
Dahlia had to literally peel her face off the floor before rolling over onto her back to answer the girl.
"I'm upstairs with a man!"
She heard what can only be akin to shriek of a fruit bat. She immediately realized the poor choice of words as she attempted to lift her body up off the cold floor and remembered the urgency of the situation.
With a gasp she ran out the door and down the hall towards her supply closet as she yelled back at the young lady who remained a giddy mess down below.
"Not what you're thinking!" She yelled downstairs as she was grabbing bandages and salves from her closet before rushing back to the bedroom.
"Lead Naug'seus out to the stable and see if Yanos is back! I need you here in the clinic so come right back!" As she yelled she saw the man scrunch up his nose at the sudden volume of her voice.
She took off the makeshift bandage and saw her hands become instantly saturated with blood. She was coasting on the edge of her adrenaline rush as she placed a thick absorbent pad over his wound and left his side briefly to the other side of the room where a wash basin and water pump resided.
Getting a bowl of water she thought to warm it with magic, but realized that her magic would be better used to try and heal the wound instead. Dipping the wash cloth in water she removed the pad and quickly started to clean the wound before the blood pooled again.
Now for the exhausting part.
Dahlia was not a very powerful mage when it came to offensive attacks and such, but her magical talents in healing and support were very good. However, the amount of concentration and continuous use would leave her exhausted if pressed for too long so she had become very aware of mana exhaustion.
As she lifted the pad up she applied a controlled burst of magic to the wound and could see it begin to heal slightly before replacing the pad and resting for a moment. She worked on this one wound for roughly ten minutes before she was convinced the wound would no longer bleed and finally scab over. Now it was time to see what other wounds needed assistance.
She managed to shrug off his thick jacket down to his shirt which had clearly became attached to him as it saturated his torso with blood. She took a pair of scissors from the table and cut the shirt off to reveal several lacerations and some slight discoloration in the ribs. These wounds were upset after the removal of the cloth and began to bleed again. Repeating the process she managed to clean and stifle those wounds as well before she suspected a few ribs were fractured.
She pulled a small tuning fork from her kit and hit it on the bedside table. She placed her ear on the man's chest around the suspected area and placed the vibrating fork on the rib she thought would be fractured. She did this several times before coming to the conclusion that he could possibly have a few injured ribs.
Now that the wounds were sufficiently cleaned she decided to change the water and begin cleaning all the blood off his body before applying the salves and bandages.
She removed his boots and attempted to undo his belt buckle when a hand reached out and snatched her wrist in a painful grip. She looked up at the angry, pain-ridden face of her patient.
His teeth gritted in pain as he attempted to sit up in the small bed, still gripping her wrist in what felt like a vise.
"What are you doing?"