Chapter 12
Alice woke up with an extra bounce in her step, early the next morning. It was unusual for her to rise so early- the sun was barely up, and she was not a morning person- but somehow bed didn't seem like the place to be any longer. Not when there was so much to do (and people to see)...
She quickly walked the short distance to the healing tents, which consisted of five large, rectangular constructions collectively able to house several hundreds at a pinch. Most beds were occupied with the men still recovering from the Battle of the Burning Plains. The tents were located at the very centre of the encampment, in order to be within equal distance of all sides of the hexagonally shaped camp. As she approached, Alice could also sense the strong wards that protected it from enemy attack; the centre the army was about the safest place to be.
Arriving, she took off her coat (necessary for even the short walk- the mornings were quite chilly) and draped it over the chair in her cramped little office that had been set up for her at the main tent. She'd barely taken a breath, when the nursing staff that had been on call all night descended on her with questions, reports and a long list of demands. With a sigh, she tied up her hair, briskly washed her hands in a nearby basin, and got to work.
When she'd first arrived, just four days ago, the healing tents had been in shambles. No one knew where they were supposed to be, or who to report to, and Angela and Trianna hadn't helped matters. Angela was easily distracted and her wicked sense of humour and off-beat conversation-style didn't contribute to an orderly or efficient state of affairs. And she was liable to treat people whose ailments she thought were "interesting" over those in critical (yet more mundane) conditions. Trianna, on the other hand, had a short temper, a superiority complex and in chaotic situations tended to bark orders, frightening the patients and healers alike. The biggest problem of all was that she would freak out at the sight of most bodily fluids- which wasn't very helpful at all.
Coming into this cacophony of noise and the general atmosphere of discord, Alice had had to dig deep and take charge. It was the first time she'd been in command over so many staff. From the age of fourteen, she'd been working as the Head Healer's assistant in Farthen Dur (while Angela remained her mentor throughout that time, the woman was always on the road, so Alice's magical education had been patchy at best). Her training for the job had been hands-on since the beginning. The former Head Healer was a stern, old woman, who had made Alice's life a living hell for more than five years. But then she got too old for the job, and eventually put out her back. Upon her retirement, she put Alice's name forward as her replacement, and surprised her with a glowing recommendation, showing that the old crone must have had a heart after all. The other healers that Alice had worked with during that period had then come forward and acknowledged her superior skill and endorsed the choice, thus ensuring her promotion despite her youth and relative inexperience.
Since the Varden had left Farthen Dur, Alice had been off tracking down Paldir across the country, and therefore the chain of command in the healing tents was broken. The more senior healers could keep order most of the time, but in a crisis, or after a major battle, things were liable to fall apart.
Upon taking up the position, Alice had facilitated a major restructuring of the whole system, working out a roster of shifts that ensured there were always two healers on duty in each tent, day or night. There were nurses without magical abilities and trainee-healers to assist them as needed- she'd left that up to the healers to figure out. Angela took on (rather gleefully) the "weird diseases and afflictions" position, which Alice had specially invented for her, mainly to keep her out of Alice's hair. It also allowed Angela time and space to fulfil her true role; brewing specialised vats of the potions and salves they needed on a daily basis. Other than that, each night Alice went through the inventory and got to grips with what supplies they would be running out of, and made extensive lists of the deceased, the wounded and those she had released, posting updates on the notice-boards outside the tents regularly.
Whenever she had a spare moment (which was not often over the past four days), she would pore over the book she'd snatched from Paldir, painstakingly trying to solve her grandfather's cipher. She wasn't getting very far. Perhaps she should take Lady Nasuada's advice and go and see Jeod...
These thoughts spun around in her head all morning as she did her rounds, checking bandages and temperatures of the many wounded men, all of whom had something to complain about.
She was just settling down to stitch up a man's leg (for the umpteenth time, it seemed, he kept ripping his stitches...) when Angela came marching past, carrying her basket of medicinal herbs and bandages, looking harassed.
Alice glanced up from her work, "What's up?" she asked, as Angela paused to scratch around in Alice's medical kit for extra stitching thread.
Angela scowled. "Nasuada has been being a very silly girl, and got herself into a pissing contest with Lord Fadawar," her voice was heavy with contempt. The nurse assisting Alice looked scandalised at Angela's language, tutting loudly. Angela rolled her eyes, and Alice hid a smile.
"I'm sure she had her reasons," Alice admonished mildly, snipping the last stitch. She got up, dusting off her hands on her apron. "Don't make me do this again." She warned the man sternly, who nodded meekly. "You can finish up here," she said to the nurse, who came forward to dress the wound. "Lady Nasuada is injured?" Alice directed at Angela, a slight frown creasing her forehead.
"Yes, but all in the line of state duty, I'm told." Answered Angela waspishly, and stalked off without further elaboration.
Alice shook her head and moved over to the next bed. She was sure she'd hear the full story sooner or later.
She glanced at the tag on the next bed, where an unconscious man with thick head bandages was lying. "So, next we have-"
Suddenly, there was a commotion at the entrance to the tent. The young runner they used for emergencies burst through the flaps, panting.
"Marco?" Alice said, surprised.
"M'Lady," he gasped, "We got forty-six in Tent B, jus' arrived."
Forty-six? Alice gathered up her medical kit briskly, mentally ticking off the things she would need. "The situation?" she asked him calmly.
"They jus' arrived in wagons, M'Lady. 'Think they was ambushed jus' down the road... T'ain't pretty."
"Well, we can't afford to lose our heads over this," Said Alice, "Marco-"
"Yes ma'am?" he said, snapping to attention.
"Go around to all the tents and tell the healers I want one of them and three nurses to assist to stay behind and oversee the patients we already have. All other healers and nurses are to report to B without delay. You got that?"
Marco nodded, and departed with a hasty bow.
Alice strode out of the tent and headed towards B at a fast trot, steeling herself.
Pushing apart the tent flaps, she took a moment to take in the mayhem. Soldiers were busy unloading injured men from carts onto the nearest beds, while the nurses and healers stood about barking ineffectual orders. Somehow, a few family members of the wounded had managed to tag along, adding their chatter and wailing to the cacophony of noise.
Alice took a deep breath, and then muttered a quick line of the ancient language.
Her voice then rang out, magically enhanced to carry over the din. "May I have your attention?"
She had modified the voice-enhancing spell to instead sound like she was speaking in a normal tone, at the shoulder of every person in the area. She felt the immediate drain on her power, but the complex spell was worth it. People fell silent momentarily, looking around for the source of the voice which had sounded so near.
Satisfied she had their attention, Alice strode forward, and continued to talk in her normal speaking voice, sounding much calmer and in control than she felt.
"Would everyone who is not healing staff please exit the tent, I will be beginning treatment immediately." She caught the eye of a nearby gaggle of women, "That means you. Now!" A little shame-faced, they departed reluctantly, leading the exodus out of the tent even as the extra healers and nurses Alice had called for arrived.
Good, reinforcements, Alice thought with relief. She waved them in, then turned and did a quick head-count. Marco was right- there were forty-six injured men that she could see, and a whole lot of their comrades hanging about- a few with minor scrapes. That boy was worth his weight in gold. They wouldn't have enough beds- but she wanted to keep them in one place, to ensure she didn't neglect any of them.
"You four," she addressed a nearby knot of soldiers, who looked relatively unscathed. "Go out and to the left- in the next tent there are extra beds. I need five."
They nodded and ran out.
"The rest of you, if you are injured but can walk, you walk to Tent A for treatment. Everyone else who does not need medical attention, please leave. I need this space cleared, now!" Everyone jumped to obey, not willing to argue with her no-nonsense voice.
The next three hours was a whirlwind of activity for Alice. She personally went around to each bed, assessing the damage and doing emergency first aid where necessary. Those who were in pain she spelled to sleep, but she didn't dare with the ones who were very seriously injured. They might not wake up. The twelfth man she got to was fading fast even as she reached him, and he had lost too much blood for her to successfully revive him. A nurse pulled his sheet over his face, and Alice moved on. She had no time to think of the dead while the living were in need of help.
Out of the whole group, there were three others who were in very critical states. One had two arrows to the chest, but by some lucky accident, both had narrowly missed his lungs. Working as quickly as she dared, she removed the arrows and repaired the internal damage as well as she could, but left the exit wounds and ripped muscles for the other healers to take care of. The second had massive internal bleeding on the brain, and she could tell very quickly that while his body was technically still alive, he had been dead for quite a while already. She left him as he was- he was not in pain, and his body would soon die a natural death without her help.
The third man of the worst injured was a thin-looking man in his thirties. His eyes rolled in fear in his snow-white face. The only soldier to disobey Alice's command and remain in the tent was a tall man in the blood-splattered armour of a Surdan knight. The man knelt at his fallen comrade's bedside with a determined expression, trying to distract the man from his injuries, though it was clear from Alice's first glance that they were grave indeed.
As Alice arrived on the scene, the knight looked up at her through messy, sandy-coloured locks of hair. He had striking green eyes and a proud face, etched with worry. He moved aside to allow her space, but didn't leave. Alice took one look at his mulish expression and decided not to argue, as long as he stayed out of her way.
"What's your name, soldier?" she asked the injured man briskly, wiping her arms clean of the last man's blood with a wet cloth a nurse had offered her.
"Therin, M'Lady," he gasped.
"Well, Therin, let's get you fixed up," Alice said, trying to inject some cheerfulness into her voice. She examined the man with a careful eye, and tried to hide her dismay.
It was a miracle the man had made it here alive. She looked up, doing the math at lightning-fast speed. All the other healers were busy- she had two nurses to assist her, but that was all. She gritted her teeth, and got to work. She was on her own.
The man had several broken ribs, a broken collar-bone, a nasty gash on his head, and a deep wound across his left thigh from a sword thrust. She hurriedly stopped the major bleeding, sealing up the arteries and veins that had been damaged first of all. Then she nodded grimly at the man standing at the man's bedside. "Help me turn him over," she said.
They turned him carefully onto his stomach, causing him to give a cry of agony, fortunately muffled by the pillow. His friend cursed.
Alice cut away the man's tunic completely, revealing the wound. He had been slashed diagonally across the back, almost severing the spinal cord completely. The wound wasn't bleeding too much, but Alice could see the damage was extensive. She had known what she would see the moment she'd noticed the unnatural stillness in the man's legs, despite the rest of his body shuddering in pain. She dragged a chair over to the bedside- this would take a while- and rested her hands on either side of the gaping wound. She envisioned her power slowly sinking its tendrils into his back, soothing the pain and stopping the spinal nerves from firing their signals from the gruesome wound to the brain. The man gave a gasp and then a relieved sob as the excruciating pain was numbed. Then Alice closed her eyes, and started reciting the slow chant which would fix the man's mangled spinal-column.
Sir Coram watched from the beside of Therin, his best friend, as the young woman beside him sank into a dream-like trance, reciting some complicated magic under her breath. Her face was pale under a sheen of sweat from the effort, her hair tied back roughly with a plain strip of cloth. There was a small spattering of fine blood droplets across her cheek. Despite all of that, he thought to himself that in all his life, he'd never seen such a beautiful creature...
Author's note:
Ooh, a rival for Blödhgarm? The next chapter is finished, will be posted tomorrow :D
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