Hiya! This is chapter, erm, 4! Yeah 4! I hope you guys are enjoying this, and do you think I need to change the rating because of this cutting scene? Please do tell.

It took a whole month to get far enough away from Carona that they didn't have to worry about being found, but the place they made it to almost made them wish they'd let themselves be caught. Hot, wet, and severely overgrown, it looked like someone had gone to town with extra strength fertilizer and then just left the place to grow whatever it could. That wasn't the only thing they had to worry about either.

Narcius sat beside Karwyn, who he knew was sleeping, and sighed heavily. Kirielle should have been back a while ago, and Narcius wanted to get up and search for her but was loathe to leave Karwyn here alone. He had been getting steadily worse as time progressed, and even though the infection he had didn't seem to have gangrene in it, it was still growing steadily worse.

He sighed heavily and turned to face the man, fighting the growing urge to maybe drop a small leaf in front of the man's nose and watch it get blown away. He was bored again, bored, bored, bored. Narcius reached forward and felt Karwyn's head, which was dry and hot.

He'd been feverish for a week now and slept most of the time, but when he was awake he was still lucid, and that was a good sign. Still, the times when he was awake were growing fewer and fewer and the wounds on his back had begun to weep a thin, clear liquid. Narcius reached donw into his boot and pulled out a thin blade.

It was barely a blade, in the sense that it could not be used for self protection unless it was used on major arteries or eyes. Barley an inch long, the only thing it was really useful for was cleaning nails and cutting hair, but maybe it could be useful now.

"Hey wake up," Narcius whispered, shaking Karwyn's shoulders. For a few seconds he didn't think he was going to wake up, a thought that made him shake all the harder. Then Narcius felt a sudden mental shove that made him release his grip and nearly tumble backwards. He bit back the words that tried to come out, it had been his fault anyways.

"Narcius, what are you doing?" Karwyn sat up slowly, movements marked by the increasing pain and sickness he was experiencing. Narcius settled himself close by and looked down. The idea of cutting into Karwyn's skin, even to save him, made his stomach roll over. Despite how much he annoyed Narcius, he was still the closest thing to a brother he had.

"I was..." Narcius swallowed, mouth dry. The small blade shivered in his hand, and he instantly wished he hadn't woken him up. The fever clearly raged in his unusually bright eyes, and movement made him break out in a cold sweat. What made him think that cutting a series of holes in his back was going to help? Narcius made to put the blade back in his book when it was pulled from his hand. It hung in the air between them for a moment before falling to the ground.

"Would you know what to do?" Karwyn asked, almost conversationally. Narcius wiped his upper lip and nodded, feeling much less calm then he appeared.

"Of course I know what to do, I'm not stupid. Just reopen the wounds, drain'em, and then clean the mess out. It's not rocket science," Narcius grumbled, picking the knife back up and wiping the blade off. Karwyn looked at it calmly with an air of expectancy. Narcius considered telling him that he had never done this before in his life, just to see what he'd do, but dismissed the idea. He didn't think it's do anything anyways.

"Well then, put the blade in the fire for a few moments. I'll tear my blanket, so you'll have something to bind the cuts with," Karwyn said, and simple as that he got to work. He didn't sound scared, or even apprehensive of what Narcius was going to do. He just began tearing long, thin strips of cloth from his blanket.

Narcius stood and walked over to the fire, trying to find the best place to put the tiny piece of metal. He finally settled it between two rocks, where it wouldn't tumble into the flames. He hated this feeling, this horrible fear that he was going to do something wrong and somehow, with that tiny knife, puncture his friend's lung or kidney or something.

By the time the make shift gauze and the knife were ready, Narcius had broken out in a cold sweat. He walked back over to Karwyn, carrying the knife gingerly between his thumb and finger. Karwyn sat there calmly with his back to him. Narcius wondered if he'd do anything when the hot blade cut his skin, but he didn't think he would.

After wrapping his thumb in a small strip of cloth, Narcius positioned the blade in his hand so the cutting pressure would be applied with his thumb. Then he leaned forward and placed the edge of the knife against Karwyn's skin. Narcius bit his lip and tried to apply pressure to the knife, but found the strength had left his arm.

"What are you waiting for?" Karwyn asked, knowing perfectly well why Narcius wasn't cutting. He could feel the point of the blade on the sensitive skin, and each time Narcius pressed down or let up on the knife was broadcasted loud and clear. He felt another sharp pain from the blade, but it still hadn't cut his skin.

"Man, I can't do this. I can't. What'll happen if the knife is still dirty and-"

"Narcius, I don't want to hear your excuses," Karwyn said, the words short and brittle. He felt Narcius lift the knife away from his back. "If I'm going to die, then this will just help me along, and if I'm going to live then this will at least buy more time. You don't have any reason to be nervous, so just take the knife and cut. Kirielle will be back soon."

The last words, added like an after thought, made Narcius return the knife to his skin. Kirielle would be back soon, should have been back a while ago. How would she react seeing him cutting into Karwyn's back like a mad butcher with an eye problem? Probably not well.

The words had done something else too. They had made him mad. Excuses? The only excuse he had was that he cared! What was wrong with that? He wasn't going to screw this up, nuh-uh. He was going to do this right, which meant he had to do it slow. This jerk could just suffer through it.

So he cut, straight along the lines left by the magic and weapons used by those two bratty kids. After the first line was cut he saw pus oozing out and he wiped it away. Sometimes he pressed down until the gunk was gone an all the ran out was blood. Cut, wipe, press, wipe. Cut, wipe, press, wipe. He continued like that until the raised areas were gone and the cuts he'd made bled only red.

The whole time Karwyn didn't say a thing, but he could see pain on his face. Well, too bad hot shot, you're the one who let me do it, Narcius thought.

After binding the cuts with the makeshift gauze, Narcius let karwyn lay back down. White faced, but still utterly calm, he fell back asleep and Narcius began cleaning up.

He had carried the rag used to wipe away the blood and pus and the knife over to a spot to dump them when what he had done hit him. He bent over and vomited, something he hadn't done in years over something like this. Wiping his mouth he spat onto the ground, throwing the bloody rag and knife away.

The infection wasn't gone, he knew that. This was just to buy some time, time they probably didn't have anyways. Narcius headed back to camp, feeling a tightness in his throat that threatened to turn into vomiting every once in a while. He sat down heavily beside the fire, trying to keep from gagging.

"Narcius?" Kirielle emerged from the wood, finally, with water and the bag they'd been using to carry their things in. Now the bag was only used to carry their blankets and food, since they had long ago cast off their East Heaven's clothing in exchange for clothes that would let them fit in better. Narcius nodded, unaware of how pale and sweaty he looked. Kirielle walked over quickly, setting the bag down as she went.

"Did you get hurt?" She asked, looking concerned and scared. She seemed scared a lot now. A lot more then before.

"I'm fine, just needed to... to take care of something," Narcius answered, not feeling like being snippy with her at the moment. She nodded and sat down, lowering her voice to a whisper.

"There's a road that way," she said, nodding towards the direction she'd come from. "I don't know where it leads, but I thought we could follow it. Maybe someone traveling would pick us up and take us to a town."

"We can't do that Kirielle," Narcius whispered back, casting glances over at Karwyn who he thought must have been working, but who could very well be awake too. "If someone goes down that road who's seen a poster or anything we could be dead."

"But if we don't go, he could die," Kirielle said, unaware of how the words hit Narcius's heart. "I don't know if I could call him a brother, but he does try to take care of us. We should at least try."

It was a long moment before Narcius replied. "Alright, we'll go there in the morning. Right now let's just go to sleep."

Kirielle nodded her agreement and went to her bed, picking up the bag to set in the tree's as she went. Narcius just laid down where he was, stomach still feeling questionable and nerves tingling. Traces of blood still stained his hands, and he rubbed them furiously together until it was gone.

It took a long time for him to fall asleep that night.