Author note: here is the third installment of Solace, this one is a tad graphic do to Maliks' surgery, so if you a squeamish don't read the really graphic parts, I hope you enjoy, sorry this chapter is a little bit shorter that the other ones, but it seemed like a good place to end, once again enjoy! reviews are appreciated!
Al Mualim joined the two women shortly along with a two of the brothers.
"The extent of his injuries...what are they?" the master of the assassins' questioned the older healer, glancing over to injured assassin who was now completely stripped of all his clothing except for the small fabric that covered his nether regions.
"It is not looking well..." Uzma said glancing back at her patient.
Basira gently padded away the blood that continued to gush form his wounded arm, quickly she reached down to her mortar smearing the Comphrey plant paste across a clean strip of cloth and pressed it to his wound, hoping the poultice would help ebb the bleeding. Malik groaned in pain and screwed his eyes shut, trying to will away the pain.
"Will he survive?" Al Mualim asked softly.
Uzma sighed.
"I can do nothing to save his arm...it will have to be amputated...after that, only time and Malik's will, will be able to tell if he will survive..." she replied solemnly.
"...So I am to lose my arm...? What good will I be if I only have one arm?" Malik questioned weakly, sounding agitated. Uzma was about to hush the assassin when Basira took care of it.
The master assassin was silent for a few moments, in thought before speaking again.
"Do what you must." he told her and Uzma nodded and turned back to her student and patient.
"Basira, did you hear that?" Uzma asked her.
"Yes ma'am..." came the soft reply.
Uzma turned to the two brother assassins that had come with Al Mualim.
"I will need you two to help us." she told them firmly.
"What will you have us do?" one asked glacing at his fallen brother.
"First I will need that leather strap around your waist..."
The assassin obeyed without question and quickly removed the belt and handed it to the healer.
"I will need you two to hold him down..." she said as she walked over to a wooded chest that was against the wall facing the hallway.
She opened the ancient looking chest and carefully pulled out an object bound in a old cloth.
Basira knew what this was and she quickly looked away as Uzma began to unwrap the object; though she had never seen it before, Uzma had told her of it, and usually the use of this object did not end well.
"Basira..."
"Yes ma'am?" she said turning back to her master, seeing the long serrated blade free of it's bindings in her master small wrinkled hand.
"There is little you can do to help me with what I am about to do..." the elder woman said looking softly at the young woman before her.
"What will you have me do?" Basira asked continuing to padded Maliks wound, pleased to find that the comphrey poultice had helped with the bleeding.
"You young girls when brought to the garden are taught to have many talents...I assume you were taught to please and comfort companions." Uzma replied earning a confused frown from the young woman.
"Yes, mistress, but I don't see-"
"I need you try and comfort him while I do this, he will be in unimaginable pain, I need you to be there for him...try to take his mind off what will be happening." the woman cut her off with her explaination.
"...T-that will to be necessary...I can handle it..." the injured assassin breathed, his voice tense and heavy with pain.
"Don't be foolish, assassin!" Uzma scolded. "It does not make you any less of a man to feel such pain and show it, you will need Basira's comfort."
Malik was quiet, not wishing to anger the healer anymore than he already had.
The woman placed the evil looking blade on the floor next to the cot on top of the cloth it had been wrapped in and then went back over to the chest and picked up a candle on the table next to the chest and brought it over to the group. Takeing a piece of flint from the small pouch on her belt at her waist she quickly struck it, sparks flying, lighting the candle. Uzma quickly placed the flint back in the pouch and picked up the blade and slowly began to run it through the flame, sterilizing its' serrated edge.
After a few moments the older healer removed the blade from the flame and moved the candle out of the way and took her seat on the chair she had placed next to the bed.
"Basira...place the leather strap in his mouth." Uzma ordered and the young woman nodded and coaxed the injured assassin to open his mouth and she gently placed the animal hide between his teeth. "You two..." she then said referring to the two brothers. "One of you hold his legs, the other get behind me and hold on to him arm...You must hold him tight, I can not have him moving around." she ordered and the two assassins quickly took their places.
Uzma then took a long strip of cloth and wound it around his upper arm, slightly below his shoulder, tying it extremely tight, earning a wince from the assassin. She then picked up the blade and looked at the injured man.
"Are you ready?" she asked him and he gave out a weak scoff.
"...Is anyone ever prepared for this?" he asked weakly and she gave him a sad smile and then looked over to Basira, who was on the other side of the cot.
"Are you prepared?" she asked the young woman.
"Y-yes ma'am." the girl said nervously.
"Are you two ready" she then asked the two brothers who replied with a simple 'yes'. "Very well..."
Malik felt the cool blade press to his skin and although he would never admit it, he was afraid...
"Malik...Malik look at me..." he heard the soft, sweet voice of the young healer and he slowly turned his head towards her.
"Hey...I'm going to talk you through this alright?" she told him a small sad smile on her full lips.
Pain spiked through his body, the first cut, the blade sawed through his skin, he let out a loud groan bitting down on the leather strap.
Basira could hear his teeth digging into the hide and she winced.
"Malik, listen to my voice...it will be alright, everything will be fine, the pain will fade..." she said, resting a hand on his jawline, turning his head to face her again.
"Everything will be fine? He was losing his his goddamn arm! He had just lost his brother; hell he himself could lose his own life, how would everything be fine?!"
More pain and he groaned again.
Basira could see his eyes beginning to water and out of the corner of her eye she could see the assassin holding his legs, struggling to keep Malik from thrashing about.
"Listen to me Malik, you are of the brotherhood, you can make it through this...you are strong...you can do this." she told him, not sure what to tell him to ease his pain.
Another cut and the assassin let out a pained cry.
"Basira!" Uzma yelled at the girl, needing the her to calm the pained assassin.
Feeling extremely flustered and at a loss, the young healer wrapped her arms around the assassins neck, pressing his cheek to hers, her hand in his hair, gently petting his dirt and blood caked hair.
"You can do this..." she whispered in his ear. "I know you can...you are strong..." she heard him bite into the strap again though he did not cry out. "I know you can make it through this..." she told him again, kissing his cheek, his forehead, his nose, before resting her forehead against his own, her hand now stroking his cheek gently.
A few momments later Uzma placed the blade down and quickly began to wrap the wound.
Basira slowly unwrapped her arms from around the assassins neck and he let out a pained sighed and closed his eyes completely spent and slowly fell into a troubled and painfull sleep.
The young healer looked up to her mentor who gave her a solemn nod.
"Help me finish wrapping his wound..." Uzma said quietly and then looked over to the two brothers. "You may leave now..." and they nodded and quickly excited the room.
The two women managed to wrap the assassins amputated arm without too much trouble before cleaning up.
Basira looked over to her mentor who was now slumped in the chair next to the cot looking much older than usual. "Mistress...are you alright?" she asked gently kneeling on the stone floor next to her mentor.
"I am old Basira...and this sort of surgery takes much out of an old woman like myself..." she replied tiredly.
The young healer pursed her lips together and loooked down at the floor in thought before looking back up at Uzma.
"Go rest..." she said simply placing her hand gently on the womans boney knee.
"I must watch over him...he is just beginning his struggle..." she replied with a sigh.
"I will watch him..." Basira said and then added. "The brothers and sisters need you...you must stay well and strong in order to aid them..."
The older woman gazed down at the young woman tiredly and sighed.
"Very well...if his condition worsens, come get me immediately." Uzma finally said after a moment of thought.
Slowly and somewhat weakly she got up from the chair and shuffled towards the door.
"You are sure you are up to this...?" the older woman asked turning back to the young healer.
"Yes, now you go and rest for a while." Basira commanded pushing the older woman out the door slightly.
"Sometimes you remind me of a young...well, me..."Uzma chuckled before she began to walk back towards the women quarters. " Peace be with you my child..." she called over her shoulder.
"And you mistress." Basira replied before stepping back into the room.
Slowly she sat down on the chair Uzma was in moments before and gazed softly at the assassin before her; even in sleep he looked troubled, she sighed and picked up the blanket that had been kicked off the bed during surgery and gently covered the sleeping assassin.
Finding a fresh cloth she dipped it into the basin of clean water and gently began to clean the dirt and blood off his face; once finished there she moved to his dark hair and tried her best to rid it of the matted chunks of blood and dirt.
After cleaning him up somewhat she sat back in her chair and looked at him tiredly, she wondered how he would react to her when he woke up, she had invaded his personal space, she had kissed him! She regretted doing so, he would most likly not be pleased with her when he awoke, and she certainly didn't want to be hated by a man she just help save...only time would tell.