"How did this mortally wounded friend and this sick friend get up here?" The witch asked.
"That is hard to explain." TehLulz said with a weak voice, then added: "We found the wounded one up here, we don't know how he got here. We came through the Graveyard of the Forest…"
She interrupted him: "What? You went through there? Why would you do that? That is suicide!"
"I will explain everything to you later, please help them." TehLulz begged.
The witch noticed that TehLulz was very serious and asked: "They are behind the wall, right?"
TehLulz instinctively grabbed her hand and pulled her behind the wall, he was surprised how soft her skin was for somebody living in the wilderness, it was strange how panic made you notice the most irrelevant things. She followed him and took a sharp breath as she saw the scenery behind the wall. freeZe, her brother and Unchosen were lying on the floor, all three with scratches all over their skin, only that Ambigious' skin was all red and sweaty, freeZe and Unchosen seemed to have passed out from the exhaustion. Fire looked the worst with the gaping wound in his chest and his shattered wooden armor all around him. His peaceful face and his relaxed position were an intense contrast to the rest of his body.
"By all the herbs of the forest… How did that happen?" The witch whispered.
It was easy to notice that the witch hadn't expected something like this, maybe she expected a broken bone or a spider bite but she definitely hadn't expected a hole in the chest.
TehLulz answered: "We don't know… But can you help him?"
She swallowed and answered: "I can't do much but I will try my best. What does the sick person have?"
TehLulz noticed that he was still holding the witch's hand and quickly let go.
He explained: "His skin is burning hot, he got hit by an arrow in the Graveyard, see that bandage? Unchosen made that… err that is him." He pointed at his friend.
"I know what it is, at least I can save him. It is blaze fever. Please don't tell me you have been to the Nether too." She said, looking at TehLulz as she began to realize the extent of what they had been through.
"We have been to the Nether, yes." He replied.
Without saying more she walked into the first room again and searched her chest for a potion, muttering words that sounded like curses. After half a minute she found what she was looking for, a glass bottle that look looked like its creator had made it in haste. It had a glowing orange liquid inside it. She walked over to TehLulz, gave him a nod and knelt down next to Ambigious, careful not to step on anybody else.
She commanded: "Please hold his mouth open and make sure he swallows."
TehLulz knelt down next to her and lifted Ambigious' body up into an upright position, trying not to flinch as his already hurting skin was exposed to the heat of Ambigious' body. He tilted his friend's head backwards and opened his mouth. A single nonsensical word escaped Ambigious before the witch poured the potion into his mouth, luckily nothing got into Ambigious' lungs. The potion instantly seemed to take effect.
"What potion was that?" TehLulz asked.
"Fire Resistance, easy as that." The witch replied, not without pride.
"How will we save Fire now?" TehLulz wanted to know.
"Fire? His name is Fire? I know that name from somewhere…" The witch said and scratched her chin.
TehLulz was puzzled, he asked: "From where?"
"Wait… Wait… I know! My mother told me that a… someone named Fire had been here a long time ago." She answered and added: "You know, when I was younger"
"Where is your mother now? And who was your father?" TehLulz asked, immediately cursing himself for asking invasive questions when there were more important things at hand.
"My mother is dead, I don't know who my father is, might be somebody from the village near here." She answered, paused and then said: "I can't guarantee you that Fire will live but I can try at least."
TehLulz was baffled, he said slowly: "Wait. He is not dead? I though he was and hoped that you could revive him."
She replied: "He looks like he is dead but there is something inside him keeping him alive, I can feel it. Do you have any idea what it could be?"
TehLulz realized something: "Aaah! It might be the golden apple concentrate we drank."
"You have golden apple concentrate too? You can't go a minute without surprising me…" She muttered.
"Yes, we have that. Fire always has it on him, it should be in his coat."
The witch knelt down next to Fire and pulled the ragged rests of his coat away from the wound in his chest. Her face was now right above the wound, TehLulz didn't know what she was doing but he assumed that she was inspecting it. She sighed and raised her hand above the wound, pointing middle and index finger in its direction.
"What?" He asked but didn't get an answer.
Suddenly a cold wind seemed to blow through the hut as the witch whispered a single word. At first nothing happened but then the light inside the room seemed to come alive, it left its place on the walls and was drawn to the witch's fingers, illuminating the wound with all its gruesome details. Fire's skin looked like it had been torn apart by an immense force, the same force had also torn away the muscles and parts of the ribcage below. At the bottom of the wound TehLulz could see something that looked like a lacerated heart, strangely no blood was in the heart or in any other part of the wound. TehLulz stared at the wound for a brief moment that seemed to be an eternity to him, then the light snapped back into its place without a warning and shadows covered the wound again.
The witch seemed to be as horrified as he was, judging by the part of her face he could see, her eyes were still wide open. She held her hand open above Fire's chest and seemed to be looking for something, then she reached inside Fire's coat and pulled the bottle with the golden apple concentrate out.
"That wound is worse than I thought… Did you see his heart?" She said with a shivering voice.
TehLulz wanted to know once again: "Can you help him?"
"I may be able to. Now that we have this potion I can try… Where did you get it?"
"Fire made it. You seem to know what it does but I don't know the whole story behind this potion, only Fire can answer that question." He replied.
She sighed again and uncorked the bottle, which was so much more beautiful than her own potion bottles. Now TehLulz noticed the fine decorations in the glass, they looked like vines winding around the bottle from the bottom up. They were not carved into the bottle, the vines were made from fine strips of glass. The witch also seemed to notice that and slid her hand over the bottle to feel the fine structures.
Without a word, she let a single drop drip into Fire's wound. That reminded TehLulz of something, Fire had done exactly the same before they talked to Oalrhm. A sudden thought flashed through his mind. What if Oalrhm had been dead or at least without life? Didn't he say that Fire "awoke" him? Didn't he hear Fire saying something to freeZe about life force in the cave on the mountainside? He had been half asleep but he generally understood what Fire had been talking about.
Then he knew it: "The potion increases life force. That is why Fire is still alive… or not dead… and now it will bring him back." He muttered to himself.
The witch heard that and nodded. She stood up and sat down next to him, staring at Fire. She had tears in her eyes, it made him want to cry again as well. He put his arm around the witch's slim shoulders and they both hoped for the best.