I stared in shock for only a few seconds before reacting. I jumped from my horse to kneel next to Aramae, whose side was pouring forth what little excess blood she had left. There was barely enough left for her to stay alive. If she lost much more, she would die right there on the spot.

I checked her pulse, already growing faint. Next I examined the gash in her side. It was not very deep, but it was still bleeding profusely. It was just long.

I ripped a strip of fabric from the hem of my pants with the help of a knife from one of the bags, spiraling it upwards to make it as long as possible so that it could be tied around her waist. Then I grabbed one of the spare shirts and pressed it to the cut. Holding that in place with my foot I tied the strip of fabric around to hold it in place.

I glanced up to find a crowd of townspeople advancing cautiously but quickly. They did not look like they wanted to help either.

I went to get Aramae on her horse so that we could leave before they got here but remembered my broken arm. I was also dismayed to see that the blood was already beginning to soak the shirt closest to where the cut was. Running through the situation quickly in my head, I realized I had only one option; I had to heal her with magic. I didn't consider leaving her here to die an option at all.

I found the words I would need and reached for the magic in that far corner of my mind. It took some minutes of slamming into the barrier that separated me from the magic I knew was there, but I finally broke through and felt it flood my mind. I concentrated and directed it with the words "Weis Heil."

The silvery mark on my hand and wrist glowed purple, the same color as Fluffy, and I felt the magic leave me, as well as a considerable amount of energy. Then...nothing happened. I couldn't figure it out. What had I done wrong? There was still blood all over the shirt which was still covering...oh. I had forgotten to take off my makeshift bandage. So it probably had worked. It better have worked.

I reached down and removed the strip of fabric and the bloody shirt. This revealed a thin line on her side, a scar, and nothing else, save some dried blood. It had worked. I sat back and sighed in relief, suddenly feeling the effects of the magic. I couldn't believe just how tired I was.

I dug around in the bags until I found a piece of bread which soon disappeared as I was absolutely ravenous. As I was eating the stale crap that all of a sudden tasted really, really good, Fluffy hopped out of its bag and trotted over to ask for some food, which I gave to the little dragon. Aramae had saved some of the meat from the other night, thankfully, so Fluffy was quite content. The townspeople had halted, as I now observed, for fear of me. Apparently two girls killing a bunch of soldiers wasn't scary at all, but a teensy bit of magic, and it was time to flee.

When they saw me look their way, they turned around and ran away for dear life, tripping and stumbling in a massive panic. I rolled my eyes at the illogical stupidity of these people. Why would they attempt to attack me after I had just killed people, but the minute I healed someone, they ran screaming in the other direction? This place was just plain weird.

Aramae had still failed to wake up, even though she was no longer in mortal danger, save from any soldiers as I was pretty sure there was no way in hell that I could fight more than two, and even that was a stretch. I still couldn't move her since my arm was still broken and I couldn't fix that. I still wasn't strong enough to fix bones and I was sucked dry in the energy department.

I sat there in silence for a while, bored out of my mind. I had nothing to do, until Fluffy hopped onto my lap and I decided I was tired of calling my dragon 'Fluffy' and 'it'.