Elyrin Wintersprout
What woke me up was a sensation of sharp pain. As if someone put a hot piece of coal into my wound.
"Curses! It burns!" I yelled while wriggling on the ground as if it could shake off the sensation from my leg.
"Lie still! Moving too much will make things worse!" A male voice tried to calm me down.
Free from the veil of unconsciousness I became aware of my current state: lying on the belly I had my own robes serving as a blanket. The only fabrics left on me were blood-soaked bandages alongside still mostly white shirt and pants which I tend to wear underneath the robes.
After careful turning of my still dizzy head, I could look at my current healer. It took my eyes a few seconds to focus onto the figure of a demon hunter from earlier. At that point, I didn't have the strength left to question the ways in which Eluna deigned to aid me.
"Why on Azeroth does my leg hurt so much?" I cried once more, while looking at the bandage on my thigh underneath a rolled up trouser leg. Then I noticed an arrow still sticking from under the bandages on the adjacent limb and another one similarly secured in my wrist.
"Cinder Pollen. There was a piece of ice stuck inside your leg. It can lead to frostbite if not treated properly." He answered while putting his healing supplies in a leather belt pouch. "On the bright side, since you can feel pain, things didnt regress enough for that to be the case."
"What about the arrows?"
"I'll be removing them once we have a proper healer. You have already lost a lot of blood, so I'm trying to minimize exsanguination. I've injected a little Bloodvine extract to help with the recovery and a little bit of Ichor of Undeath to slow down blood circulation." He must have noticed me shiver at the mention of the lethal venom and quickly added "As far as I know, we should be out of healing potions already. Priests and shamans most likely won't have much fuel left either. I have to work assuming that you won't get any magical healing today, just in case."
I took my metaphorical words back: Eluna could have brought help a lot less unsettling than that. I also cursed myself for losing all my healing potions during the ship crash.
Nonetheless, I didn't want to be rude to a person patching me up and still thanked the mutated elf.
Fortunately, Lieutenant Bentham arrived a few moments later together with an orc shaman. The healer swiftly removed arrows before closing the wounds with conjured water. The dizziness I felt disappeared after its touch which means the blood loss and concussion were dealt with as well. The rest of my minor injuries had to be ignored for now since the shaman hurried back to the ship as soon as he finished with me.
"Your incursion saved us today but risky stunts like that must be approved by a superior above anything else. An officer more strict than I am could consider this an act of desertion." Folker said coldly after approaching me. "Try talking to the rest of us next time, will ya?" He then added in a friendlier tone.
"Yes Sir!" Was my answer, even though I felt like trying to discuss and approve everything with him would have been a time waste too big to afford in those circumstances.
xxx
The ship was no longer in conduction to be useful for anything at this point so we brought our supplies on the beach and situated our camp there.
Kank returned sometime later as he and his strike squad went after some of those naga that were abandoned by their comrades in the fog. Since he looked content and covered in blood, his little incursion proved to be a success.
There was a small celebration of today's victory. Quite a few praising words were given to me. Even though I tried to undermine my achievement verbally, behind a mask of modesty I actually craved for more commendation. Given the circumstances, I think I deserved it.
The storm settled by the time our battle finished so nothing prevented us from gathering around a big campfire. Once the formalities have been gone through the proper discussion of our current situation could finally commence.
xxx
"So your mages found something strange on this island and you were sent to figure it out." Kank summarized our side of the story.
"And since the Horde was losing its ships in the area, you were sent here as well and assumed it was our fault." Folker mirrored the old orc.
"Then we began fighting, a sea monster attacked us all, and naga turned out to be behind all this mess. " Kank sighed. "And since none of us has a salvageable ship and since the tentacled creature should still be somewhere nearby, leaving this island is not an option. All we can do for now is get rid of the remaining snake bastards."
"And prevent whatever magical machinations they were trying to hide from us so desperately."
"Yeah, that should sum it all up. We can lick our wounds tonight and go after them at sunrise."
"Agreed."
