We'll Bleed For This Cause
Chapter 6: Gaping Wound
Elissa tumbled down short but steep incline with all the finesse of a noble lady tripping over her ludicrously huge skirts, which is to say not much at all. Elissa had seen firsthand how ungraceful and hilarious that situation was at one of her parent's fancy dinners. The situation she was in now, however? Not nearly as funny.
She knew she was getting close to the edge of the incline during the fight but she hadn't expected her opponents shield bash to send her right over the edge. And so she fell head over heels backwards down the slope. Short though it may have been, it was covered with small bushes, a number of pointy twigs, and some very sharp rocks.
Elissa hit the bottom of the slope rather quickly and came to a stop on the more level ground. "Just great," she muttered to herself. She sat up and quickly took stock of her injuries. Can feel fingers and toes, good, no head wound, also good, elbow is a bit sore, that's fine, and oh, dear Maker that doesn't look so good…
Part of her right leg was covered in blood but she didn't get the chance for more than a cursory look because at that moment an arrow lodged into the ground beside her with a dull thwack.
She glanced up to the top of the incline and found herself locking eyes with the archer, a dark haired woman with equally dark eyes and smirk on her lips. The woman already had another arrow nocked and Elissa only just scrambled out of the way of the second shot.
Elissa reached for her own bow to return fire but her hand grasped at empty air. Her eyes quickly scanned the area and she finally found it not far from where she was. The only problem was the bow was snapped clean in half and completely unusable.
The third arrow came so close it nicked the edge of her ear and Elissa hurriedly turned her attention back to the woman.
She tested her bleeding leg, hoping it wasn't going to let her down if she needed to make any quick movements. It hurt, but held her weight fairly well for the most part. Elissa realized that could have just been the amazing pain numbing effect of adrenaline, however, and knew she couldn't rely on it staying that way for long. The archer woman would get tired of her games soon enough, and then Elissa was really going to have to take action.
"Aww, the little girl is all alone," the woman crooned. She loosed another arrow that landed in front of Elissa's feet, sending her stumbling backwards. "You're in quite the predicament now, little girl. Just wait until my people are done with your friends and then- urk!"
The woman arched backwards, eyes wide as she dropped her bow to claw at something at her back. She jerked again with another pained noise, a chocked cough sending blood flying from her mouth. Then her eyes dulled and she was pushed unceremoniously down the incline. The woman's lifeless body rolled to a stop at Elissa's feet but she was too busy watching Zevran at the top of the incline, a bloody dagger held in his hand.
"I think I had heard quite enough. Didn't you, Warden?" he said, looking down at Elissa with a small smug smile.
"Yeah. Thanks." Elissa looked down at the woman lying before her, two deep stab wounds in her back. She carefully stepped around the body and hobbled her way back to the bottom of the incline, spotting a large rock that would make a good seat. "Is everyone else alright?"
"We are all fine," Zevran said, sheathing his daggers. "Highway bandits are hardly a challenge. Though I must say you are looking a little worse for wear."
"Yes, well, that was an accident," she replied quickly, feeling her cheeks redden with embarrassment. She quickly sat down and turned her attention to the wound on her leg to hide her face.
If Elissa was honest with herself the wound was pretty gross looking. It was a gaping cut down the side of her leg and was filled with dirt, bits of gravel, and even a twig with a leaf on it. She gagged a little.
Alistair chose that moment to appear at the top of the slope, Dog bounding up beside him. "Bandits dispatched. Have you found our missing leader so we can get- oh not again."
Elissa shot Alistair her most withering look.
"What have you done now?"
Before Elissa could get a word out Zevran answered. "She says it was an accident."
"I misjudged how close I was to the edge of the slope but everything was fine. End of story. Now is one of you going to get down here and help me?"
Dog let out a happy bark and made his way down the slope towards her, doing a much finer job of navigating the incline than she had. He reached the bottom easily and trotted over to her, ducking his head to sniff at her leg wound. Elissa quickly pushed his head away.
"No offense boy, but this already has a whole bunch gross things in it, let's not put your doggy mouth, which I know you have been using to drag around dead squirrels, anywhere near it," she said. Dog just whined and she shook her head in exasperation. "You can check it later, when it's clean and bandaged."
"Speaking of," Alistair said as he reached the bottom of the slope, "I have the injury kit right here."
"Good, just let me try and clean this up a little," she replied, eyeing the twig half inside the cut with disdain. Tentatively she grabbed the end and pulled it away carefully. "Oh, oh, that is disgusting."
"It's nature," Alistair exclaimed with a grin, "there's nothing disgusting about that. Right, Zevran?"
The assassin just shrugged his shoulders.
Elissa flicked the twig in Alistair's direction. "It's disgusting when it's in me."
"I don't know," he said, looking down at the wound, "your insides are looking pretty outside to me.
Elissa made a gagging noise. "Now that is disgusting. Ugh." She picked out a few of the larger pieces of gravel, slippery with blood, and accepted a flask of water off Zevran to wash out the worst of the smaller things. "We have some healing poultice, right? Because this is bleeding quite a lot. I don't know how I didn't notice before."
"To busy dodging arrows perhaps?" Zevran shot her a sly smile.
"I wouldn't laugh. She probably came closer to finishing the job than you did," Elissa said, wincing as Alistair applied the poultice to the wound.
Zevran raised his hands in surrender. "I concede, Warden." He was still smiling.
"Your grin says otherwise," she said.
"And done," Alistair said, finishing up wrapping the bandage around her leg. "Good as new I think. I'm pretty darn good at this healing business."
Elissa chuckled. "Not quite as good as new but it will do for now." She accepted Alistair's helping hand to get her back on her feet. Like when she first noticed the wound, she tested her weight on it. She would be walking with a bit of a limp but it was nothing that was going to particularly hinder their job for the day.
"Are we ready to move on, Warden?" Zevran asked.
"One moment," Elissa said. She made her way over to her broken bow and picked it up with a sigh.
"How did you manage that?" Alistair asked, looking impressed.
Elissa rolled her eyes. "Same way I did this," she pointed at the now bandaged leg wound. "I really liked this one too."
"If I may," Zevran interrupted, "I know where one can acquire a rather fine bow."
"Of course you do," Alistair said.
Zevran barely acknowledged Alistair's comment. "It is just a suggestion. A long range weapon can be a good friend to an assassin, and I my weapons to be of a high quality."
Elissa half-heartedly slotted the broken ends of the bow back together despite knowing it was beyond repair. "I might have to take you up on that offer."
Alistair scoffed. "You can't be serious. First you trust the assassin to watch your back and now you trust him to find you reliable weapons?"
"Feeling a little overprotective, Alistair?" Zevran asked.
Elissa grinned. "Aww, that's so cute."
Alistair just huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "You two are the worst, you know that?"