Just outside Darkshade

The smell was what really woke Jordis up. It didn't matter how big a waterfall you had just gone over, the putrid stench of rotting flesh was more than enough to bring you back into the mortal plane. Jordis took one sniff in her semi-conscious state and immediately sat bolt-upright, retching as she did so. She looked round to see what had caused the smell and saw a small cave, with the remains of several people strewn around it. Her stomach dropped as she thought that maybe Alarik was in those remains and her head started spinning around wildly, looking for him. She saw him a small distance away, washed up on the bank of the river. She got up onto her weak and tired legs and walked unsteadily over to him. She looked at his mouth, trying to detect any movement, but couldn't see any. Remembering what her previous Thane had taught her about a dead animal, she laid her ear next to his mouth and looked down his chest. Relief flooded through her when she saw that his chest was rising and falling very slightly. She also felt his hot breath against her ear.

Excellent, she thought, he's alive, but I need to get him out of the open. It'll be night soon and with an arrow in him, he won't last long.

She gently manoeuvred him into a sitting position and lifted him up slowly. With one of his arms round his neck, she half dragged, half carried him into the cave, kicking the human remains out of the way.

The cave was relatively spacious and surprisingly well-lit, if a bit damp. Jordis looked round and saw a small, dry patch of ground high up. She managed to drag Alarik up to the spot. When she got there, she put Alarik down carefully onto his side so that she could look at his wound.

Despite the fact that Jordis had very little experience in terms of medicine, she knew when an arrow wound looked bad. Some of the arrow shaft had snapped off from going over the waterfall, leaving only a small amount sticking out. Blood had stained what was left of his leather armour. Jordis propped him up so that he would stay on his side unsupported and she left the cave. She looked round and found her pack had washed up on the bank. She grabbed it and slung it on her back. She then went off and grabbed all manner of sticks, ranging from small twigs to big branches and carried them in her arms back to the cave. She piled all the small ones together and took out a piece from flint from her bag and her steel sword. Stabbing the steel sword into the pile of twigs, she quickly ran the flint up and down the steel sword. Sparks flew in all directions as the flint quickly became a blur on the sword, but it still took a while before the twigs caught light. When they finally did, Jordis took the slightly larger sticks and leant them over the fire, building it up so it would burn for longer and there would be more heat and light. She then set to work helping Alarik heal.

The first thing she did was reach into her pack and dig out a healing potion. She uncorked it and gently poured its contents into Alarik's mouth, cradling his head in her lap.

"Come on, come on," she said, half to herself and half to Alarik, "please work." However, the potion did very little. His breathing was a little bit stronger, but he still remained unconscious. Jordis slid her pack underneath his head as she got up, maintaining some sort of pillow. She then went round to Alarik's back and slid out her dagger. She decided that the first thing she had to do was cut off the armour so that she had unrestricted access to the wound.

She slid the dagger underneath the tattered clothing and cut all the way along the leather, peeling it off Alarik's back as she went. The leather was a sticky combination of blood and water and it clung to Alarik's skin. Finally, she managed to clear Alarik's back of the armour and she saw, for the first time, her Thane's back in full.

Scars, both prominent and faded, littered Alarik's body. There were claw marks, old wounds from blades, burn marks and bruises as well. Jordis knelt in silence as she traced her finger over some of the scars. She had had no idea that her Thane had seen so many fights – she had thought that he had spent the civil war in a clerk's office and hadn't seen any battles, but just looking at this proved her completely wrong.

Tracing along the scars eventually led her back to the arrow wound. She grimaced, knowing what she had to do to save his life. She uncorked another potion of healing and kept it near her this time, ready for when she needed it.

The first thing she had to was check and see if the arrowhead had lodged itself into a bone. She took what was left of the arrow shaft in her hands and slowly started to twirl it. Thankfully, the shaft of the arrow gave no resistance and twirled in her hands. Good, she thought, that means the arrowhead was not lodged in bone. However, she did now have to remove the arrowhead, and do so soon. A rusty arrowhead lodged in the body could do permanent damage. She took her dagger and wiped it on a piece of cloth, getting rid of the blood on it. She then said a quick prayer to Talos, hoping that she wouldn't kill her Thane.

Jordis placed the dagger next to the arrow shaft, and slowly pushed down, widening the arrow wound. When the wound was open enough, she removed the dagger and slipped her gauntlet off her hand. She put her bare hand into the wound and pressed on through the skin until she found the arrowhead. She took hold of the shaft with her other hand and slowly lifted the arrow out of Alarik's back, using her bare hand to clear any flesh and tissue out of the way of the arrowhead as it made its way out of Alarik's body. A few minutes later and the arrow cleared Alarik's body and was sitting in Jordis' hand, the iron head covered in blood. She threw it to one side and took the potion of healing. She poured a small amount over the wound which was now bleeding a lot again. She took out a roll of bandages from her pack and soaked them in the potion of healing. She lifted up Alarik's armour from the rest of his torso and wrapped the bandage all the way round him, keeping it tight and constantly checking to see if the wound was bleeding through the bandages. Thankfully the wound had stopped bleeding and so Jordis tied off the bandage. She unrolled her own bedroll from her pack and laid it out on the opposite side of the fire to Alarik, so that she was facing him. She quickly stripped off her armour and laid it out near the fire in an attempt to dry it out. She was about to do the same with her underwear but something made her stop. She looked over at Alarik, who still appeared to be fast asleep. She went over to him and waved her hand in front of his face. No response. She clapped her hands loudly a couple of times. Still nothing. She went back over to her own sleeping roll and was about to continue undressing but she stopped again and looked over at Alarik. Cursing herself softly, she slid into her sleeping roll wearing wet underwear. If I get the chills because I was afraid that my unconscious Thane was looking at me undress, then I'll never forgive myself, she thought grimly, as her sheer exhaustion ultimately took over her and she fell into a heavy sleep.