Fever Blood

Chapter 32: Panacea

Emptyvein giddiness, Paradox said. Dragons that lose too much blood grow giddy and imbicilic. Great. We got that too. Look what you did, Laidu. Lovely! Giddy was fun! Imbicilic wasn't as much fun, apparently. And Paradox was being a downer. Rhaem would be better. And Kasran, well, no one liked that jerk. And the sad voice...

Dead. Swallowed. Tasted bad, Kasran complained. He consumed the sad voice? Was that even possible? Well, apparently it was.

Karik'ar let go of him, releasing Laidu onto a table. Why did they have him on a table? They were not going to serve him up as a meal, were they? Uncooked? They couldn't cook him, though. He was immune to heat. And besides, Laidu was pretty sure Karik'ar wasn't a cannibal. Though he was neither human nor dragon, so would it really be cannibalism?

He felt something warm and wet squish up into his wound. "No, Thaen, not like that!" he heard Kyra say, still distant and muffled, as if a wad of cotton was pressed over his earholes. "See? The ribs line up!"

Thaen adjusted the squishy thing, sending a lance of pain up his side. Laidu grimaced and tried to move, but Thaen held him down with a gore-soaked hand. Kyra backed away slowly, before dashing off to the side. Laidu could hear retching sounds.

"Couldn't take it?" Thaen asked.

"Just...all the..." Kyra began, before emptying her stomach again.

"Alright," Karik'ar ordered. "Everyone out. Except Skaria."

"And leave my friend behind?" Thaen asked. "Not happening." He moved between the massive Kai'Draen and Laidu. All the Ranger saw was Thaen's back. "I'm not blindly trusting someone I only met a few days ago. Especially not a Kai'Draen."

"And he was there for me when I needed someone," Kyra said. "He rescued me from death -or worse. I am not leaving him now." She was such a wonderful friend!

"They aren't leaving," Indra said, decidedly less passionate. "I want to see this. And I suggest you start working quickly. I gave him the haemosurgers to prevent him from dying from blood loss. Not so you can let him bleed out."

"Fine," Skaria said abruptly. "But if any of you talk about this, if any of you breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll cut your tongue so you won't speak. I'll cut your hands so you can't write. I'll gouge your eyes so you can't see. I'll take your ears so you won't hear. Are we clear?" Kyra, Indra, and Thaen nodded. "Good." Skaria nodded to Karik'ar. "Go ahead. Do it."

Karik'ar gently moved Thaen out of the way, then closed his eyes. His brow furrowed in concentration, and then his eyelids snapped open. Green light poured out of them. A luminous green mist tumbled from him, filling the space in front of him. Soon, the cloud was the size of Indra.

The color began to fade. No, the color in everything began to fade. The gas condensed, before coalescing into the form of a short woman.

She was about as tall as Thaen. Her eyes were brilliant green, her hair a sunny blonde that was pulled back into a bun. "Karik, what happened to him?" she asked in disbelief. Thaen, Indra, and Kyra stared in shock. "He's a bloody mess, in the literal sense."

"Monster ripped that piece of him off, got some haemosurgers to keep him from bleeding out, Panacea."

"Smart. Hmm," the woman -Panacea- said.

"Panacea?" Indra recognized the term. "That's a universal medicine. Theoretical alchemy." Karik'ar nodded.

Panacea touched the wound. "Bone splintered. Don't have all the parts. But that shouldn't be a problem." She held her hand in the hole in Laidu's side and pushed.