Ok, so I know I only said one more chapter; but I got carried away with this one (as usual). If my wordiness is too annoying just tell me and I'll start just using straight plot-line. I know I'm dragging it out - but I can't help it, I don't want my story to end! I would say only one more chapter, surely, except that's what I've already written the next one and it's not the last quite yet (damn my wordiness!). If you think this is getting too long tell me and I'll cut it down a bit and make it into one final chapter - if not expect at least two. (wink) Enjoy!
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Djaq rushed into the camp and over to her bunk. Where is my medical kit?! She tore her blanket from the makeshift bed frantically. She did not have time for this. She voiced her concern aloud to the others in panic. "Oh, right! It's here." Much bent down hastily by the door and held it out to her with a slightly guilty look on his face. His cheeks turned red as he thought of how close it had come to being engulfed by the flames. John and Robin looked away with the same thought on their minds. Djaq looked questioningly at all their faces, and would normally would have inquired what was going on… but decided instead that she had to help Will. She snatched the kit wordlessly from Much and hurried to Will's side.
She had a new appreciation for life and the normalness of the situation. The other outlaws were scattered about the camp ready to help her if called upon, and as always Much was nearby looking on with interest. John was off in some solitary corner of the camp like usual. Robin was off in another corner one arm around Marian, and the other holding her hand. The only thing that was uncommon was the deafening absence of Will - which was ironic because he was usually silent anyway. The tension throughout the camp was so thick it could be cut with a knife. They were all too afraid to ask what, the now mumbling, man's chances were. Much scurried about boiling water and getting rags, his good mood thoroughly dampened by the realization that Djaq had no quick-fix for their comrade.
Djaq noticed all of these things numbly -as if she were examining the situation through a veil. Being a physician she remained unfazed by the tension, the quietness, and the fact that it was the man she loved whose life was at stake - as opposed to some nameless soldier. She had to remain unfazed - or risk making the situation worse. As she once learned long ago when she first started healing, physicians were not allowed to feel anything for their patients, because emotions made things far worse.
First things first, Djaq concocted a solution to ensure that Will would stay asleep. She could not have him waking up mid-way through sewing up his skull. The shock his body was already going through was enough, without having that happen to him. She could see the effects of the concoction almost immediately. Although he'd already been unconscious his eyes were darting feverishly and he still muttered some nonsensical words here and there. Once the drink had been poured down his throat he was truly silent. Djaq had to shake herself mentally, reminding herself that that was supposed to happen. She mentally hit herself for being momentarily unnerved.
Once again Will's head was in Djaq's lap as she addressed his injury. Much stood next to her and held the thread. She carefully sewed up the damage and said a small silent prayer that he hadn't lost too much blood over the last few hours. She applied the cleaning solution to it again (both before and after the stitching) just to be safe. Then she took some clean bandages and wrapped the injury up to let it heal without the prospect of sawdust-covered fingers disturbing it to scratch an itch.
Next Djaq moved to Will's hand. Now that he was fully knocked out she poked at it without fear of hurting him. She'd treated burns before - but never quite this bad. It was still a bright angry red and hot to touch. There was a collective intake of breath from the people observing her as she took off the cloth she'd draped over the wound loosely before, hiding it from view. Much uttered a quiet, "That, is revolting." before gathering up more cloths.
Djaq just looked at the threatening-looking wound thoughtfully, not quite sure how to treat it. "Much , do we have any ice?" The man scrambled over to his kitchen and made a point to show that he was looking, but he already knew the answer. "Er, no, we don't. Sorry. We usually eat our meat fresh, it would melt out here anyway." She knew what the word meant and had heard of butchers using the cold substance to keep meat cold, but she'd never actually seen ice - just as she'd never seen snow - even before she asked she highly doubted Much would have it in his forest kitchen. Her mind flew about wildly, uncertain of what to do, still.
"The river is practically ice cold this time of year. You could use that." Marian piped up. "Alright." Djaq said nodding. "John can you go get me a bucket-full?" The large man nodded and rose grabbing a bucket on his way out the door. She would have liked to use cleaner water (boiling water), but realized that because river water was always moving through rocks and sediment it would be practically as clean as boiled water anyway. Besides, even though a few layers of skin may have wasted away, the injury is not exactly open, so perhaps the dirt in the water won't affect it.
Within a minute or two John returned with a full bucket of freezing cold water. Djaq dunked a clean rag in it and got to work carefully dabbing Will's skin trying to make it less inflamed. She was satisfied, if not thrilled with, the results. The swelling had gone down, even if it was still bright red (maybe a little less so) and positively shiny. But that was to be expected. Djaq put the disinfectant on it and finally lathered it with the cooling solution she'd made before wrapping up the whole hand. She bound the entire thing, not so tight that it would restrict blood flow, but not so loose that it would cause irritation.
Djaq looked him over fully after that. The marks on his back were almost dried up by now, but like very large scabs, if he stretched his back too taught in the near future the thin layer of skin would probably break, drawing blood. So she gently padded his back with cloth to prepare for that until they were just vicious (but not active) scars. His arms which had also been cut up had stopped bleeding, so Djaq left them alone. She decided to re-bandage his ribs, seeing as she'd originally done it in the darkness of a cave and the bandaging was not straight. For the same reason she also rebound his foot with a another branch of wood as a splint for his toes.
After this was done there was nothing else she could do except wait. Finally she exposed the emotions that she'd refused to reveal while working - but being Djaq, she only let them show through a little. She would not allow herself to cry, but was aware vaguely of the look of fear she portrayed on partly on her face. She decided not to conceal this from her friends. He looks like a man half-made of cloth. Maybe part scarecrow? She bit her lip and sat down, the official signal that she was done.
"So… will he be alright?" It was John who asked it, Djaq had been sure it would be Much to ask first. Robin looked afraid to hear the answer, she noticed, his eyes were round and he held Marian's hand tighter. She saw the raw guilt in his eyes as she said tentatively, "I do not know. I've done all I can. Now it's up to him. If his fever doesn't break soon… it does not look good." The others all looked stricken, but said nothing. "If it does break -" she continued giving both possibilities, "then he should be fine, eventually. Sore, but fine."
Despite the silence it was impossible to ignore the labored breathing of the man on his cot - even while knocked out, as beads of sweat leaked down his forehead. Marian got up and strode across the room to where Djaq was and placed an arm around the Saracen's shoulder. She was outwardly unresponsive, though inwardly she was immensely grateful towards Marian's kindness. Up till now she hadn't even realized that Djaq was holding Will's hand (the good one). As she held his hand, not a tear crossed her cheek, but the thought crossed her mind, I love him and I'm going to hold his hand - just in case this is his deathbed.
Despite this heart wrenching thought, she couldn't suppress a smile or the lurch of love toward all her supportive friends as Much came over and began sponging off Will's head with cold water - she'd once told him it would help with fevers. Who knows, maybe there is reason to hope after all. After all, this is the man that taught me to have hope where I'd never had hope before - in love.
Ending with that thought the camp turned silent as they all began their silent vigil - praying for Will's fever to break so they could all breathe again, even if he was still having trouble.
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I hope someone caught on to the Will looking like a scarecrow/Dr. Who reference (hehe). And I just absolutely love the Much/Djaq friendship. If you actually look carefully in the show you'll see it played out in a bunch of different episodes (subtlety, but its there). For example in the end of Lardnar's Ring you see Much clap a hand on her shoulder, or in 2x10 where he offers her his arm (again in the end) to help her over a log - its mid-sentence so you have to look for it to find it, but I just love it and think it's great. It's kind of touching in a non-flirtatious way, I hope I've captured that right. Hope you've enjoyed, please review, and I'll update real soon. (Next chapter you find out if Will's ok or not - I promise).