"Calm down, she has to be around here somewhere," Vex said in her most soothing voice. "Poor thing is probably hiding in a bush waiting for one of us to find her."
"We should split up," replied Pike, who was power walking a good 10 feet ahead of the rest of the group, worried as she was about Keyleth. Their druid friend had been wildshaped as a bird when one of their enemies had tossed some sort of explosive into the air, catching her by surprise and flinging her past the tree line. They'd taken out the pack of goons without too much trouble afterward, but Keyleth hadn't returned.
"Someone should head back to the campsite in case she made her way there," Percy added, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "If she's injured or disoriented, her instinct will probably direct her toward safety."
Pike stopped in her tracks. "Good point. I'll go to camp and wait there. She must need healing, so if any of you find her, bring her straight to me." Without another word she sprinted past the group in the direction of their campsite.
"Don't worry, Pikey, we'll find her!" Grog called after his friend. "C'mon, let's get moving!" He grabbed Scanlan under the arms and lifted the gnome onto his shoulders.
"Hey! Don't crush the silk, buddy!" Scanlan cried as he frantically smoothed out his shirt. "This is- whoa, is this how it feels to be tall? Ha ha, onward!" Grog broke into a jog and the two ventured eastward, disappearing amongst the trees.
"How do you want to do this?" Percy asked Vex. Vax broke in before she could answer.
"You two take the north side, I'll head south."
"You're going alone?" Vex asked, crossing her arms.
"I'm faster alone, I can cover more distance," he replied brusquely. Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and skulked off into the trees.
Vex rolled her eyes. "I'll go alone, you'll just slow me down," she said in a withering impersonation of her brother. "Let him play the hero, then. I'm sure she's fine."
Percy had been travelling with Vox Machina long enough to be able to tell that Vex was just salty because she was worried about Keyleth when she didn't want to be. Although the blast had been a surprise, Keyleth should have turned up already. The fact that she was still missing after this much time meant she was probably in trouble of some kind.
"It may be that an injury is slowing her down, but I'm absolutely certain that we'll be laughing about this in a few days' time," he said, watching his companion's face carefully.
"Well, of course we will," Vex replied, tossing her braid over her shoulder. "Keyleth will be so embarrassed that we all made such a big fuss over her for nothing." She headed north, Percy close on her heels.
There was no sign of their missing friend anywhere that Vax could see. Growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of clues, he scaled a tree to get a better vantage point. He perched on a high bough, scouring the area for a hint of red, thinking it would be easiest to spot Keyleth's flaming red hair amongst the grass, trees, and bushes of the hilly terrain. A dark shape caught his eye in the distance- a cloak? A person? He couldn't be sure without getting closer. In silence, he dropped back to the ground and stalked toward it. Peering quietly around a tree, just in case it was hostile, his heart plummeted when he saw the shape for what it was: a large bloodstain on crushed grass. There were drag marks beside it leading into a thicket.
"Fuck," he said under his breath, moving closer to examine the stain. Panic began to rise in his chest. It was a lot of blood, but not enough to indicate a fatal injury. If she was lying somewhere, still bleeding, though… He followed the drag marks into the thicket, where they stopped abruptly at the roots of a tree. A little blood, not enough to indicate that she'd bled out, but no hint of where she'd gotten to after that.
"Keyleth!" he called out. "Answer me!" His heart pounded in his ears. She couldn't have gone far… right? She had to be here somewhere. "Keyleth!"
"Vax?" Keyleth answered weakly from somewhere close by. "Vax?"
"It's me!" he called back, sighing with relief. "Kiki, where are you? I can't see you anywhere."
"Up here, in the tree." Vax looked up to find those green eyes fixed on him from a point about 5 feet above his head, concealed in tufts of leaves. Her red hair was hidden under a crown of greenery. He would never have seen her if she hadn't said something.
"Can you get back down? We've been looking for you for ages, everyone is worried."
"I- I can try." Whimpering, Keyleth slid gingerly along the branch. "My leg is broken; I think it's bad…" Her right leg came into view; a hint of white bone protruded from her blood-soaked leggings.
"Shit," Vax said before he could stop himself. He winced. "Hang on, let me help you." He pulled himself up onto a lower bough and held her steady as she slipped down next to him. With his assistance, Keyleth slowly made her way onto solid ground.
Vax kept a firm grip on her elbow as he oriented himself. If he had his directions right, which he almost certainly did, camp was just over half a mile northwest. The others were well out of shouting range at this point. He was acutely aware that Keyleth was unable to walk on her own, but she might be able to make it if she leaned on him for support…
Keyleth swayed on the spot, clutching at Vax to keep herself upright. She was white as a sheet and trembling like a leaf. Alarmed, Vax wrapped one arm around her waist to steady her.
"Kiki? Stay with me!"
"I- I'll try," she murmured. Her eyes struggled to focus on his face.
There was no way she could walk any kind of distance even with support; he was going to have to carry her.
"Stay calm, I'm going to pick you up, OK?" he said. "I'll do my best not to jostle your leg, but if we're going to make it to camp you'll have to hang onto me. I need you to stay awake, Kiki."
"OK," she whispered, eyes still unfocused. She looked like she could pass out at any moment.
"Put your arms around my neck," Vax instructed. Keyleth did as she was told, and he slid his left arm under her knees and scooped her up as gently as he could. Luckily Keyleth wasn't very heavy; while Vax was no weakling, he wasn't known for his physical strength, and carrying her all the way to camp was going to be a challenge. He took a deep breath and carefully took the first step.