The space above the waypoint seemed to ripple and out of nowhere two women appeared, one supporting the other. They collapsed almost instantly. The one shouldering her companion got back to her feet and dragged both of them forward despite an arrow lodged in her own thigh. She was screaming.
- "Help! She needs help! You have to take her to the priestess!" Akara rushed to her aid, and the rogues around lowered their bows. "Akara! You have to heal Lydia. You have to heal her!"
Galen joined the priestess in helping the two women dressed in the battle garb of the amazons, holding the one who spoke so she could lean on him while Akara lay the unconscious one on the ground. Her pale skin contrasted sharply with her black hair and with the splash of red blood that colored her throat and dripped down her armor. She felt deathly cold to the touch.
The priestess placed a finger to feel for a pulse and frowned. She started chanting and pouring healing energies on the wound. Moments passed that felt like an eternity, but Lydia did not stir. Akara looked to Galen somberly.
Placing the fair-haired amazon in Kashya' care, he knelt beside her fallen comrade and lay his hands on the bleeding throat as a bright light seeped through his fingers. Brighter and brighter it went as he focused more and more of his holy energy to try and close the wound. All his spirit bent to reach through death's door, but it was already shut. As the light faded, he hung his head above the woman's lifeless body. Her features held a peaceful expression, and he tried to find solace in that, but there was something excruciatingly beautiful and tragic about the strength and innocence of her face. He made his best attempt to steady his voice before he spoke.
- "There's nothing I can do... resurrection is beyond my powers. I'm sorry." Respectfully, he folded the limp arms on the inert chest and uttered a prayer. "The weight of the world is lifted. Soar now beyond the reach of suffering and evil. The light awaits to welcome you home."
The amazon leaning on Kashya collapsed to her knees with an inarticulate wail that struck grief into every heart that heard it. She crawled over to Lydia, cradling her head in her lap as she sobbed.
Akara placed a hand on her shoulder but said nothing, giving time for the weeping to turn into silent tears. When she spoke, her voice was soft but insistent.
- "Dana, I grieve for you and for the loss of our sister, but there will be time to mourn. For now, we need to tend to you or you'll bleed out. Come now," she prodded gently "we must take you to a sickbed and remove that arrow. let this be the only tragedy today."
The amazon showed no sign of acknowledging or even hearing the words spoken to her, nor did she make any move to rise.
The northman who had presented himself to Akara as Aan stepped forward and unceremoniously lifted the tall woman, armor and all, as if she weighed nothing, carrying her towards the large tent at the edge of camp. She did not resist or even react.
The infirmary was quieter than usual. Most silently watched the newcomer being laid in a bed, her haggard eyes swollen with tears; another shipwrecked soul in the tides of fate.
Aan moved away, looking towards Akara. She thanked him with a nod and procured a small vial of brownish liquid from one of her pouches. She leaned over her newest patient.
- "This is for the pain. I need to remove that arrow and I need you to be still while I do so. Please drink it."
Dana still made no sign of acknowledging anyone around her, but her expression grew somber. The priestess opened the vial and moved it to the amazon's lips but the latter gripped her hand fiercely. There was a sudden fire in her eyes.
- "No. I don't need it. I don't deserve it. Just pull out the arrow".
- "Dana you're being unreasonable. This will help..."
- "Just pull it out." There was a finality there that Akara knew better than to argue with. She sighed.
Behind her, Galen opened the tent flap and walked over. The bedridden amazon immediately shifted her attention to him. She cast an expectant look his way, her grey eyes somehow both pleading and accusatory. The pregnant silence compelled him to speak.
- "I've placed your friend in the care of the order's acolytes. They are preparing her body for a warrior's burial according to the rites of the Sightless Eye. I'm...I'm so sorry I couldn't do more."
Dana's expression lost its edge and she fell back into dejected silence.
- "She refuses to take the laudanum," Akara chimed in.
Galen simply nodded and knelt to inspect the arrow wound. The shaft protruded from the side of the amazon's left thigh, right below the leather flaps that jutted from under her golden scale mail hauberk. Black tendrils spread from the point of contact; the arrow was cursed, and it would slowly kill its victim if left untreated. Placing three fingers around the shaft, he gently twisted it. There was little resistance, which meant the arrow hadn't struck bone.
He locked eyes with the amazon, placing one hand on her thigh and the other on the arrow, and waited. She nodded once, scrunching up her freckled nose and gritting her teeth in anticipation. With a practiced hand, the young man pulled out the arrow in one steady motion. The arrowhead did not break in the wound; the missile was of superior make, the same kind as that used by the rogues.
To her credit, Dana did not even flinch. Her face merely remained taut as she watched the healer's hand immediately move to stem the gushing blood and begin to glow brightly. It reminded her of dawn's first light, and the black tendrils withered before it. She could already feel the wound closing and strength returning to her limb. Soon the pain had completely disappeared, and she finally felt herself begin to relax. She had been running on nothing but adrenaline.
- "You must rest now. Your body and mind need to recuperate, and sleep is often the best remedy." His voice held the authority of a healer to his patient, and would brook no argument. Dana would've chuckled at herself following the orders of this lad had she been in any mood to do so; the proud amazon warrior deferring to a man, one that was perhaps as much as a decade younger than her judging by his appearance. Probably not nearly as much, she decided as she met his eyes. There were too many years there.
Kashya walked in and stood awkwardly at the edge of the group, impatience and hesitance warring over her features. Galen frowned and moved to her side. They began speaking in hushed tones, but Dana could still make out what they were saying.
- "I realize this is not a good time," the commander whispered, "but I need to ask her what happened. What she knows could be of vital importance to the safety of the camp."
- "For pity's sake captain, let her rest," the healer insisted. "She has just suffered tremendous loss and needs time to heal in both body and spirit. I don't want her to become agitated, the last thing she needs right now is to relive the tragedy she just experienced."
- "I can hear you, you know," Dana interjected. "It's alright, let her through. She's right, Bloodraven could be mustering her forces for an assault as we speak. Besides, Kashya deserves to know what happened to her scouts."
- "Bloodraven?" the northman who had carried her asked.
- "Her real name is...was Moreina," Kashya began. "She is the leader of our corrupted sisters. One of my scouts reported that she was raising the dead from our sacred burial grounds and might soon throw them at our walls. This was the day the amazons arrived; they had just come back from clearing a den outside our camp where evil creatures were gathering. They had proven to be formidable allies, so I decided to entrust them with accompanying my best scouts to take out the one who now calls herself Bloodraven. What happened, Dana?" she asked, turning back to the amazon. "Where are the others?"
- "I'm sorry, Kashya. They...they fell." She paused to let the news sink in. Her eyes were downcast, refusing to look up at the rogue commander. "Everything went well at first. We crept into the burial grounds undetected, avoiding the undead milling about. When we found Bloodraven, she was surrounded by her close retinue of lieutenants, but we caught them unawares and most of them fell to our first volley. Bloodraven herself however managed to evade us and dashed behind the crypts, emerging here and there to shoot at us. We took cover ourselves and began flanking her and her remaining bodyguard, but even as we struck down some of them Bloodraven continued to elude us. I managed to hit her a couple of times but she barely seemed to register the shafts sticking out of her. She kept playing hide and seek until her undead minions closed in around us, restricting our mobility. Her own arrows began finding their mark, crippling those who were struck long enough for the zombies to catch up to them and overwhelm them. I'm...I'm sorry Kashya. We couldn't save any of them. I can still hear their screams..."
For a moment, Kashya said nothing, her face a stony mask. Only her eyes betrayed her grief. She spoke in a voice that struggled to retain composure.
- "It's not your fault. They were soldiers, they knew the risks. You put your own life at stake to help us, and have lost much, just as we did. I'm sorry about your sister. She will be honored as one of our own."
- "Lydia...Lydia tried to help them. She rushed to stave off the ghouls, felling scores of them as I desperately hunted down Bloodraven. I finally managed to corner her, or so I thought. She took careful aim at me as I came into view. When she loosed, I dodged her shaft and retaliated with one of my own. I hit her square in the chest, but...she simply began cackling madly as I heard a muffled cry behind me. Her arrow was never meant for me. I turned to see...Lydia with a shaft through her throat. Somehow, she...she summoned the strength to remove it, gripping the wound to stem the bleeding." Dana's voice wavered, gaining a panicked edge. "I ran. I ran to her as fast as my legs could carry me, weaving left and right to make myself a harder target. Without stopping I lifted Lydia on my shoulder and kept running. I told myself to keep running no matter what. Just keep running. I don't know how I managed to run fast enough and long enough carrying her, but the only thing that caught me was Bloodraven's parting gift." She looked meaningfully at the arrow that had been lodged in her thigh. "I thought that if I could just run fast enough, I could still save her. All I needed to do was run fast enough...I..." Dana's hands were balled up into fists, but they visibly slackened when she felt Akara's touch. "...I...I think I want to be alone now." Seeing the hesitation on the faces of the two healers beside her, she added "I'll try to get some sleep."
- "The hour grows late," Akara agreed, ushering the others away. "We will decide what needs to be done tomorrow. In the meantime, I suggest we all get some rest. We might sorely miss it in the days to come."
